Red ink on their foreheads
by Esquinzo
Summary: The MCRT has to stop a serial killer that shoots Staff Sergeants in DC. With little forensic evidence left behind he seems to always be a step ahead of them. When SecNav begins breathing down Jenny's neck and the killer is already looking for his next victim the pressure on the team increases. JIBBS
1. Jonathan Kapmann

A/N: Hey guys this is my first story here, in fact the first story I have ever written. English isn't my mother tongue and I have never been in the states so all the things I mention are either looked up or pure fantasy (mostly looked up though). I hope you'll enjoy reading. This is set mid-season 3, but Jenny hasn't cut her hair yet.

Thanks Jojo for all your support (and for a really horrible nickname)

-V.

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything! I guess you know that...**

* * *

**Red ink on their foreheads**

Chapter one: Jonathan Kapmann

Friday 01/20/2006

Director Jennifer Shepard sat alone at the desk in her office at 11:30 PM. It was freezing cold outside, she had a migraine, and was in a desperate need of sleep, but she couldn't even think about leaving for the night. Sighing she buried her head in her arms.

The MCRT had been called to a crime scene earlier that day. An elderly woman had found a dead Staff Sergeant in a forest outside of DC, hidden in the bushes on a clearing. It had been the second marine they had found with red ink on his forehead and a single gun shot wound on the back of his head the month, wearing his uniform and a black tie.

So far they had no trace of their killer but on the neck of the second victim, right above his pulse point, they had found a smeared partial finger print which Abby was running through AFIS. Despite the goth being her usual happy self, she couldn't give them much hope of a break-through because even if the guy was in the system, it would be a little miracle if they got a hit because of the condition of the print.

Slowly, Jenny made her way out of her office, past the desk of her loyal assistant. Cynthia was long gone but on the other hand which sane person wouldn't be on a Friday night at half past eleven?

She headed to the bull pen from where she could hear the voice of her former lover and partner Leroy Jethro Gibbs.

"DiNozzo!"

"Right Boss, shutting up now."

"David, McGee, update"

Ziva David, former Mossad assassin and new Mossad-NCIS liason officer, stood up and brought the picture of Staff Sergeant Jonathan Kapmann on the plasma screen.

"Jonathan Kapmann, age 38, no kids and not married", her heavily accented voice filled the room, "His friends say they don't know anything about a girlfriend. His biological parents died in a car crash when he was seven, but he was adopted soon after by Thomas and Leyla Ryan, good friends of his parents' living in Minnesota. He made his basic training on Parris Island, was then stationed in Quantico and was deployed twice to Afghanistan."

"McGee"

"Yes boss, I checked his cell phone, call logs and bank accounts but couldn't find anything particular."

"DiNozzo"

"Right, I looked for possible similarities between Kapmann and our first victim Staff Sergeant Dean Morrison." He put a second picture on the screen. "Guess what I found!"

"DiNozzo, don't make me headslap you!"

"Okay, sorry boss. Obviously both of them were Staff Sergeants and were trained on Parris Island, but not at the same time. They were born in Minnesota and adopted in their childhood. We found them wearing their uniform and an extra black tie, with red ink on their foreheads. They were killed with a single gun shot to the backs of their heads after the bones of their right hands had been broken."

"Anything else, Special Agent DiNozzo?" Jenny asked from the top of the stairs.

"No ma'am, but I'll keep on searching."

"Agent Gibbs, may I have a word with you?"

"Yeah" With that Gibbs went towards the elevator. "You comin' Jen?"

"Thanks a lot Jethro" Jenny hissed as she waited beside him for the elevator. "Where are we heading?"

"Forensics. What do you want Jen?"

"Well Jethro, the SecNav is breathing down my neck on this one. Obviously he has had a special interest in Staff Sergeant Kapmann's career so I need good news for his briefing tomorrow morning."

With that the elevator opened and they rode down to Abby's lab.

* * *

Despite the ungodly hour Jenny and Gibbs could hear Abby's music blaring in her lab as soon as the elevator doors opened.

"Ah, and Jen, before I forget it: don't interfere with my case!"

Although he stoically didn't look at her while he was speaking, she could practically hear him smirking. She contemplated shortly if she should headslap him but chose a slap to the forearm, accompanied by a hissed "Jethro!", as her measure of choice. The only response she got was his melodic chuckle that remembered her of the happy times in Europe and tempted her to just forget the time that had passed and to stumble back into his arms. Before she had the chance to get lost in or _god prevent_ actually act on her wishful thoughts, Gibbs had entered Abby's lab and turned her music down.

"Gibbs, my silver-haired fox! You brought the Director along! I'm sorry but AFIS hasn't got a hit yet. But you have to think positive _el jefe_. Although even I am not sure if the quality of the print is good enough to get a hit though. We just have to stay patient and have good thoughts only..."

"Abby" Gibbs stopped her rambling with a low growl. "Do you have anything else?"

"No, besides the finger print on his neck, our killer left no forensic evidence behind."

"Don't worry Abby, patience has never been one of his forces anyway." Jenny grinned.

"Well I remember at least one other person who could never pace herself." Gibbs responded lifting his right eyebrow.

"Really Jethro?" She made a few steps in his direction. "I remember fairly well when we were in Positano, you..."

"That's low Jen. I caught a bullet the previous week!"

"Okay, then what about..."

Before Abby, who had a Cheshire grin on her face, was able to find out a still unknown piece of her bosses' past relationship, their banter was interrupted by the sharp ringing of Gibbs' cellphone.

"Yeah, I'm coming. – That was Ducky, he has just finished Kapmann's autopsy." Gibbs told them while he was leaving Abby'lab.

"Don't you forget something _el jefe_?" Abby shouted behind him. "You didn't give me a CafPow!."

"Next time, Abbs, be patient."

"I will go with you Jethro." Jenny said and added as answer to the glare she received "I won't interfere!"

"Yeah because that always works oh-so-well. Besides, I thought you don't like autopsies?"

To his luck the elevator arrived at this moment and the exiting McGee saved him from the fiery temper of his redheaded boss.

"McGee, what are you doing here?"

"I'm gonna help Abby. She asked me to bring her a CafPow! and as I couldn't find anything in Kapmann's financial records even after I had checked his tax returns I thought I would be of better use down here..."

"Call me as soon as you have anything."

The last thing Gibbs and Jenny heard from inside Abby's lab was her squeal of excitement as McGee handed her her daily caffeine dose.

* * *

After the doors of Autopsy closed with a familiar _whoosh_ behind them, Ducky stopped his _conversation_ with his_ patient_ and turned to his visitors.

"Ah, Jethro. And Jennifer, my dear. How are you?"

"I am fine, thanks Ducky. What about you?"

"Well, besides the fact that mother's corgies seemed to keep me awake all night long and I couldn't get any sleep, I am quite fine myself."

"Duck" growled Gibbs whose patience was wearing thinner by the minute.

"Yes, here we go. Come over here Jethro. Do you see the pattern of blood splashes around the entry wound? That suggest the weapon was at least several inches away from the skull of our Staff Sergeant. Are you alright Jennifer?"

"Yeah, I' fine. Just still not very fond of autopsies, I guess."

"You wanna sit down Jen?" Jethro asked with concern in his voice.

"I'm alright. Just go on with your findings Ducky."

"Well, he wasn't shot from a distance either so I suppose the shooter stood about five feet away from him."

"Do we have any indications if the shooter was a man or a woman?"

"No, as the body was found where he had been shot, he had not been moved so the task at hand could be easily accomplished by even a petite woman. There weren't any bruises or defense wounds on his body so he either knew his murderer or was badly surprised."

"What about the time of death?"

"He was murdered twenty to twenty-four hours ago, that means between midnight and four AM. In fact his case remembers me of an autopsy I performed as a young doctor in Edinburgh back in the day..."

"Bye Duck."

"See you Ducky."

"You know my boy, it is quite a shame they never want to hear my stories."

* * *

When they came back to the squad room, Jenny and Gibbs saw the team standing around the plasma screen. Ziva was sending DiNozzo her deadliest glare as she said "I swear Tony, if you pull that stunt one more time, I will kill you with not only _one_ paperclip."

"Ziva, really, I would never do such a thing. Probie here saw everything. Hey McScarypants, help me already or are you too afraid of _Zee-vah_?"

"Tony, we really don't have time for this."

"Oh, come on McLoser, neither Gibbs nor the Director are in earshot. What's up guys? They are behind me, aren't they?

*whack*

"Ya think DiNozzo? We have two dead marines, found within 15 days, and you have nothing better to do than to annoy David and McGee?"

"Sorry Boss, shutting up now."

"You find something?"

"Not yet, Gibbs, but we'll keep looking."

"Jethro, don't you think it would be better if they went home and caught a few hours of sleep?"

"Gee, thanks Director"

*whack*

"DiNozzo, did I say you could go?"

"No boss, won't happen again."

"Special Agent Gibbs, I do not appreciate..."

"Be here at 06:00 sharp! You too DiNozzo!"

The team grasped their backpacks and went in direction of the elevator before Gibbs had the chance to change his mind.

"You should go too, Jen. You look exhausted."

"Well, thanks an awful lot Jethro, that is exactly what a girl wants to hear at, er, quarter to one in the morning. I take a nap on the couch in my office. I have to be in again at 06:15 and I have already dismissed my security detail."

"No problem Jen, I'll drive you. Meet you at my car in five."

* * *

_So, what do you think?_


	2. Pictures

A/N: This is the second chapter of my story, I hope you enjoyed reading the first one and will go on here.

* * *

Chapter two: Pictures

Exactly five minutes after their conversation in the squad room, Jenny Shepard stepped out of the elevator and into the parking garage of NCIS headquarters in Washington DC. Purposefully she strode through the semi-open area to the car of one Leroy Jethro Gibbs. He opened the door on the passenger side for her before he went to his side to drive them to her Georgetown townhouse.

"Jen?" he asked, but she remained silent. He glanced at her sleeping form and realized he had not noticed that her breathing had evened out. Her head rested against the window and her crimson hair cascaded over her shoulder down her side. It had been a while since he had last seen her that peaceful. All her sorrows and worries just seemed to leave her when she shut her eyes.

Quietly he shifted his gaze back to the nightly streets of DC. Soon after that they arrived in front of Jenny's home. When he whispered her name softly to wake her, she just stirred a little in her sleep and mumbled something incoherent. He got out of the car and opened her door. Then he stroke her wavy hair softly. "Jen, you have to wake up. We're at your house."

Slowly she opened her eyes and observed her environment lazily for a few moments before she became more and more aware of her surroundings. Suddenly she realized where she was and looked abruptly straight into his eyes.

"Jethro?" She sounded still as if she was half asleep. "We have a little problem. My car is still at the Navy Yard."

"I'll pick you up tomorrow morning. Does 05:45 sound good to you?"

"Yeah, that's perfect. I guess I'll see you then?"

"I walk you to the door."

"Jethro, that is really not necessary."

"Yeah, well, I know."

He put his hand on the small of her back and proceed to walk her to her door. When she tried to find the lock with her key, cursing the absence of a light under her breath, he bent down and pressed a chaste kiss to her cheek.

"Night Jenny, sleep well."

Out of the blue she was incredibly thankful for the darkness around them so he couldn't possibly notice the blush on her cheeks.

"Good night Jethro, see you tomorrow."

With a smug grin, he sat down in his car and drove to his house on the other side of town.

* * *

Anthony DiNozzo was late for work. Again.

"Come on, come on, _come on!_" He pushed the button for the elevator like a maniac. It was 06:05 and he had the indubitable feeling the moment Gibbs saw him, he would be headslapped into next week. When the elevator came to a halt at the bull pen floor, he ran to the section of the MCRT yelling "sorry boss, I didn't mean to be late, but my..." he trailed off. "Where is Gibbs?"

"He hasn't been here yet. Lucky you."

"Gee Ziva, can't you just be happy that I won't die because of a headslap?"

The familiar _bing_ of the elevator stopped the beginnings of their first fight for that day and Jenny and Gibbs, both with a coffee cup in their hands, stepped out of the elevator and paced towards the team.

"Morning Ziva, Tony, Tim. I guess I see you later Jethro and thanks again for last night." was the last Jenny said before she went to her office. Tony started grinning like a mad man as he began instantly a new discussion in their chatroom.

Tony: _Has she really just said "_thanks for last night_"?_

Abby: _Who has said that?_

Tony: _The director. __**To Gibbs!**_

Abby: _Aww, that's so cute._

Ziva: _That don't need to mean anything. They were partners back in the day and for all we know that was probably meant in a platonic friendly way._

Tony: _Do you really think that?_

Abby: _Does that mean we are going to get a Gibblet?_

Tim: _What's a Gibblet Abbs?_

Abby: _Gibbs and the director's child. Or would that be a Jibblet?_

"If you three don't stop gossiping about my and the director's private lives and analyzing our conversation immediately, you'll be on desk duty a whole month!"

Tony: _We will talk later._

Ziva: _Bye Abby._

Tim: _See you later Abbs._

* * *

"Agent Gibbs, Director Shepard wants to speak you in her office ASAP." Gibbs looked up and saw the director's assistant Cynthia Summers in front of his desk.

As usual he took two stairs at a time, strode through Cynthia's outer office, and banged the door to Jenny's office against the wall.

"Ma'am, I'm really sorry, I just couldn't..." Cynthia's head appeared in the door frame while she tried to explain Gibbs' entry.

"It's okay Cynthia. Just close the door, please. Jethro, I just briefed the SecNav on your case. He wants results and he wants them fast."

"And what do you think I should do now? You know as well as I that if there aren't any hints there is nothing you can do!" He began to get angry.

"Maybe you could speak to Kapmann's friends once again?"

"Jen, don't be ridiculous. Ziva interviewed all of his civilian friends, McGee everyone in his unit and I his CO. Tony searched his apartment and we checked everything in his personal and professional lives. We don't even have a suspect Jen. It's the same with the first victim Dean Morrison. I have no idea why they were killed." At the end Gibbs sounded as defeated as he could get to defeated.

"Okay, I'll talk to the SecNav, buy you some time."

"Thanks Jen."

She gave him a soft smile, knowing how rare a "thank you" from his mouth actually was. They watched each other a few seconds long in silence as suddenly his cellphone started to ring.

"That was Abby, she said she found something. You wanna come too?"

"I'd like to."

* * *

When they went into Abby's lan, Gibbs kissed her cheek and gave her her long missed CafPow!

"What have you found Abbs?"

"Gibbs, you won't believe it. Actually I didn't believe it myself at first. It's really kind of scary though, don't you think McGee?"

"Abby, my patience is wearing thin."

"Okay my silver-haired fox. Timmy here and I went through Kapmann's e-mails again, because of your rule _always double-check_ and there we found this." She brought a mail with a picture of the dead body of the Staff Sergeant attached to it on the screen.

"It was sent from an internet café on L Street exactly 36 hours after his death. Timmy, you wanna go on?"

"Sure thing Abby. So we checked also Dean Morrison's e-mail account a second time. He too received 36 hours after his death a photo of his dead body, but this e-mail was sent from a café near Anacostia Park."

"McGee, you and I go to the internet café on L Street, Ziva and Tony shall go to the second one near Anacostia Park. I will interview the staff and you'll look for the computer from where the e-mail was sent. Ziva and DiNozzo do the same."

* * *

"Jesus Ziva, if I wanted to die on the job, I would catch a bullet and wouldn't let you kill me by giving you the car keys."

"If I let you drive, the killer would shoot at least two other Marines before we even arrive there."

Ziva stopped the car in front of a modern large internet café.

"This guy is rather clever. There are so many people in there, it is nearly 100% anonymous."

"On the other hand they have surely video surveillance in there, so if we find the computer, we may be able to identify the killer."

Purposefully the two strode towards a large wooden desk in the middle of the lobby. On the sides were about thirty-five desks with computers. Tony gave the girl behind the counter his trademark smile while he introduced himself.

"Hi, Very Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo, NCIS, nice to meet you. This is my partner Officer David. We need your surveillance videos for Friday, January 6th and a list of all your customers that day as well as a list of the IP numbers of your computers along with a map that shows which number belongs to which computer."

"I can give you the video tapes and the map with the numbers, but our costumers don't need to identify themselves. They rent an access to a computer for any amount of time and usually pay in cash."

"Thank you anyway. If you remember something, give me a call. Here is my card."

* * *

Gibbs and McGee hadn't more luck either. They got the IP numbers of the computers and the surveillance videos but also this café didn't require an ID and didn't accept credit cards. While Gibbs, Tony and Ziva searched a second time Dean Morrison's apartment to find something that linked him to Jonathan Kapmann, McGee and Abby checked the surveillance videos. Besides several childhood photos they didn't find anything helpful so they were happy when Abby called with good news.

Gibbs paced with a CafPow! in his hand in Abby's lab.

"What have you found Abbs?"

"Gibbs, Tony, Ziva! Timmy and I were able to trace the e-mails back to the exact computers from which they were sent. So we cross-checked our discovery with the surveillance videos and that's what we found."

McGee tipped a few keys on his key board and started the video on the plasma screen.

"There, in the upper left corner." Abby pointed out a small petite woman. "She's our guy."

* * *

_So guys, what do you think?_


	3. Márisa Sanchez

A/N: So that's chapter three. It is kinda dark and it shall be gripping. I hope I got it right... As always, enjoy reading. _Italics are thoughts and flashbacks._

* * *

Chapter three: Márisa Sanchez

Slowly, she opened her eyes. One by one, letting them adjust to the gloomy twilight around her. She grasped her left wrist so hard that the knuckles on her right hand turned white. The tension in her was unbearable.

She moved her head a little to the side and her waist-long brunette hair cascaded over her shoulder down her back. She felt the fear that was growing inside her while her coffee-brown orbs scanned her surroundings. She had no idea where she was. She laid on a carpet in a small room without any furniture in it but next to what seemed like a metal door were a pillow and a blanket. She contemplated if she should get them but her fear paralysed her and she couldn't get herself to actually make a move.

Suddenly she heard a noise right outside of her cell. The fear turned into panic that threatened to overwhelm her. _Oh my god, they are coming, they're coming._

The door opened slowly and a light bulb on the ceiling brightened the room. She felt as if she couldn't breathe anymore, _she would suffocate_, like her fear swallowed her whole being.

Slowly, her world faded out at the edges. Turned black. And she passed out on the floor.

* * *

When she woke up several hours later, she was still in the same room. Someone had left a bottle of water and something she could make out as bread. She felt dizzy and sick as she became more aware of her surroundings. Her thoughts were running wild inside her brain and she wasn't sure if she would be able to catch a single one as she suddenly focused on the most important one of all.

_Manolo_. Where was her little boy? Furiously she tried to remember the last time she had seen him, but the last weeks blurred as soon as she wanted to hold on a thought. Memories flowed her thinking like pictures from another one's life.

_Her watching a man taking Manolo from her. Crying, screaming, yelling, at first at the man, later, when they were gone, just to destroy the nightmarish silence that preyed upon her conscience._

She felt as if she had abandoned her little boy and she would do everything to get him back.

* * *

_She stared at the body. At the limp, bloody, lifeless body. _

_She was shocked. Couldn't think straight. Felt like she should scream. For help. For the police. But she was as guilty as the man's murderer next to her. They would put her in jail. She would never see Manolo again. She would rot in hell. And there was nothing she could do._

_A sharp pain brought her back to reality. He had grasped her wrist hard, forming the next day's bruises. He pulled her against him. Then pushed her in the direction of his car. _

_"__Go! Or don't you want to see your son again?" He gave her a devilish smirk._

_She stumbled to the car, opened the door, looked down at her hands. She saw the blood on them. And then, finally, she screamed._

_He hit her, slapped her, again and again, until she eventually stopped to cry._

_"__Please, I need my boy. I need my baby boy. I can't go on, I just cannot. Please."_

_The next day, he made her go to an internet café near Anacostia Park to send the picture of the dead Staff Sergeant to his own e-mail account. As she had to look at the body again, a wave of nausea almost overwhelmed her. The picture of her bloody hands already haunted her, why did she have to look at this one?_

_Absentminded she sent the e-mail, tried to focus on everything around her while she wanted to forget the feeling of him pulling her against him, of her hands on his blood stained t-shirt._

_She paid, left, and ran back to him, wanted everything that had happened in the last forty-eight hours to fade out. She hoped she would see her son again._

_Instead she was locked up in a cell with little food and less sleep. And her fear grew bigger by the second._

* * *

She had been locked up in the room for what felt like an eternity. She had been counting her meals so she thought it had actually been not more than two weeks since she watched her captor killing another man, but she couldn't be sure. They had given her a letter from her son after a few days and she held on to it like a lifeline.

She was deep in her thoughts as the door to her cell opened once again. The sudden brightness startled her and she couldn't make out more than shadows against the light.

"Márisa!" The harsh shout sent a shiver down her spine and let her dark orbs widening in fear.

"Yes?" she asked shyly.

"Come here. We are going on a little trip, what do you think?" His devilish smirk let her blood run cold.

_Would she be next? Had he decided that she knew too much? That she was too much of a liability? He was a psychopath_, that much she knew for sure.

He tied her hands behind her back, then he drove them to a forest outside of DC. She prayed the whole ride long to all saints she knew. Márisa Sanchez was catholic, had been since her earliest childhood memories, but she couldn't remember one single time when she had prayed like this.

As the car came to a sudden halt in a desert area, she had to get out of the car and go to a clearing with several bushes. He forced her to approach and to distract the marine waiting there. It seemed so surreal as she watched him coming nearer from behind. When he stood about five feet away from him, he raised his arm slowly. As if he had all time in the world. He pulled the trigger and it seemed to her as if everything happened in slow motion. She heard the shot so incredible, incredible loud. She watched the bullet fly, saw as the Staff Sergeant dropped to the ground. He broke every single bone of the dead man's right hand. Then he smeared red ink on his forehead and put a black tie around his neck. She began to cry while he was taking photos of the staged body. She formed a fist out of her hand and bit down on it, _hard_, but uncontrollable sobs escaped from her mouth nonetheless. She couldn't take it anymore, it was just too much for her.

She collapsed to the ground, hot salty tears still streaming down her face.

The next day, he made her go to an internet café on L Street.

* * *

A/N 2: So that was a short one and not really JIBBS-ish, but it was quite necessary for the crime part of the story. But there will be lots of JIBBS and the team in the next chapter.

Could_ **anybody**_ please leave a review?


	4. Man in black

A/N: First of all, thanks for the reviews. I was over the moon :D. Second I noticed that Gibbs is a little OOC, he actually shares voluntarily information with Jenny. I liked it though so I decided he can go on like this. It won't hurt him if he socialize a bit from time to time. Enough said, have fun reading.

* * *

Chapter four: Man in black

_Chapter two_

_"__There, in the upper left corner" Abby pointed out a small brunette woman. "She's our guy."_

Current chapter

"What are you waiting for? When I come back I want to know everything about this woman. From the moment she was born 'til today. I'm going for coffee." Gibbs went towards the elevator. He stopped shortly in front of the lab and shouted over his shoulder "Good work Abby, McGee."

Impatiently waiting for his usual black coffee Gibbs stood in line in his favourite coffee shop. His gut was churning about this whole "red ink case". Something just didn't quite add up. He felt as if someone was making fun of him – he _knew_ something was out of place, that there actually _was_ something odd about this woman, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

"Agent Gibbs, sir? Here's your coffee." The girl behind the counter said shyly.

"Make that two." He would ask Jenny about it. She had some kind of a sixth sense when it came to weird cases, a bit like his gut feeling.

"Agent Gibbs?" He put a ten-dollar bill on the counter.

"Keep the change" He ordered gruffly, took the coffee and left for the Navy Yard.

When the elevator doors slid open, Gibbs could already hear his team's bickering. Sometimes he had trouble understanding that he worked with full-grown adults and not with a bunch of three-year old toddlers.

* * *

At the moment Ziva looked like she wanted to kill her partner the most painful way possible with the nearest available weapon, what in this case seemed to be a pair of scissors. DiNozzo had probably thrown paper balls at her. _Again._ He would headslap them both, just for good measure.

*whack*

"Boss, I didn't do..."

"Don't tempt me to headslap you again!"

"Right boss. Shutting up."

"Gibbs, the director is waiting for you in MTAC." Ziva told him.

"Jen, you wanted to see me?" Gibbs asked as he handed her the second cup of coffee.

"Thank you Jethro. Yeah, it's about Staff Sergeant Kapmann. His funeral is scheduled for tomorrow and SecNav insisted on a press conference afterwards. What shall I tell them?"

"What you always tell. You are the politician Jen, but if I were you I would tell them with a smile."

Jenny gave him an angry stare. "Okay Jethro, let me rephrase my question. What did you find out?"

"McGee and Abby were able to trace the e-mail with the photos back to the internet cafés from where they were sent. Thanks to the surveillance cameras we have a clear picture of the face of the woman who sent them. The team is trying to figure out who she is."

"But?"

"What but?"

"There's something you aren't telling me, isn't it?"

"I have a gut feeling about this one. I don't believe she's able to murder somebody in cold blood and then stage the body. She seemed to be petrified, desperate and not like some sadistic bitch that enjoys taking photos of people she murdered."

"Well, let's concentrate on finding her first. We could go check up on your team?"

"Let's go then."

* * *

"So what have you got?" Gibbs gruff baritone sounded through the bull pen.

"I checked the traffic surveillance around the internet café on L street. I could follow her for about five blocks until she disappeared in a backyard here." McGee brought a map of the area on the screen. "From there you can go through an alley to a several parking lots without any cameras around. Someone must have picked her up there because she didn't leave the area again on foot. I don't get any pictures of the back seats of the cars though so I can't tell in which car she was. I put a BOLO out on her nevertheless."

"Ziva?"

"I contacted a few friends of mine, see if she has any known associates and stuff like that. Turns out that no-one even knows her, so she doesn't seem to be a criminal."

Jenny nodded lightly in Gibbs' direction, Ziva had just confirmed his suspicions. "Agent DiNozzo, what did you do?"

"Well I think she looks a lot like a latina so I thought maybe if she's immigrated recently we could find out who she is. I called immigration and they sent me the photos of all women who immigrated in the last twenty-five years. I'm running the picture of our mysterious lady through the data they gave me."

"Good thinking DiNozzo."

"Thanks boss."

"Jethro, I have to go up to my office again. Call me as soon as you find something."

* * *

"Boss!" Tony yelled from across the bull pen.

"DiNozzo my eyesight may be getting worse, but I am certainly not deaf!"

"Sorry boss, won't happen again. I've got a match on our mystery woman. Name's Márisa Sanchez, twenty-seven years old. She has a four years old son, Manuel, called Manolo, whose father is not listed on his birth certificate. She has lived in the US for the last six years. I've got an address."

"DiNozzo, Ziva, grab your gear and go down to the parking garage, McGee, gas the car. I will brief the director. Meet you in ten."

Half an hour later they arrived in front of a decayed apartment complex. They found Márisa's apartment easily.

"Federal Agents, open the door! Do you hear me, Miss Sanchez? Open up, now!"

"Shall I break the door open boss?"

"No need to DiNozzo. I'll pick the lock. Watch and learn."

Not thirty seconds later the door opened soundless. Their weapons drawn they searched the rooms for possible occupants. "Clear!" shouts sounded through the unnatural silence.

"Looks like Márisa got into a fight." Ziva said from the living room. "The glass of the couch table is broken and her books and her personal items lie on the floor."

"Boss, someone left a message on her answering machine a little over two weeks ago. It says 'You know what to do if you want him back. He misses his Mama.'"

"McGee, call Abby, tell her to trace the call. DiNozzo bag and tag, David photos and sketches."

A chorus of "Yes, boss" echoed through the flat, then they worked in silence for the next few minutes till McGee cellphone began to ring.

"Boss, that was Abby. She traced the call back to a telephone cell not far from the alley where our first victim, Dean Morrison, was found. She also checked the surveillance videos of the area. At the concerning time a man wearing black clothes placed a call to Márisa Sanchez landline, then he called a cellphone number, presumably Márisa's. Abby is about to verify that."

"I just knew Men in Black have something to do with this!"

"DiNozzo!"

*whack*

"Do we have a picture of his face?"

"No, he hid his face from the cameras. But we have a general description."

"Okay, Tony, Ziva, you're ready?"

"Yeah boss, comin'"

* * *

Later that night, Gibbs strolled into Jenny's office with two bags of take-out in his hand.

"Good evening to you too Jethro." Jenny said sarcastically.

"I brought some Mexican food. I have burritos, tacos, quesadillas, and nachos with salsa." He took her bourbon and two tumblers out of her liquor cabinet.

"Go ahead, make yourself at home." She tried to look angry, but couldn't bite back a smile.

"Come here Jen, lean back and enjoy the evening."

After she had taken off her heels, Jenny sat down on her couch, swallowed a sip of her bourbon and tasted the food.

"That's quite delicious Jethro, good choice."

"Don't sell yourself for short Jen, your bourbon isn't half bad either." She slapped him lightly on the arm but laughed nevertheless.

"So Jethro, tell me about that case of yours."

"Well, Márisa Sanchez hasn't been at her home for the last sixteen days. Obviously her son had been abducted and she had been blackmailed into doing something still unknown. We found a message on her answering machine telling her she knew what she had to do if she wanted her son back. It was a male voice. We traced the call back to a telephone cell near our first crime scene, but we couldn't get a picture of the caller.

"Besides that, her living room furniture has been destroyed and her personal items searched. The little forensic evidence we found on that is currently down at Abby's"

The rest of the meal they spent in silence, occasionally sipping on their bourbon. By the time they finished eating, they had both drunk too much to drive and Jenny got more tired by the minute. She leaned back and put her head on Jethro's shoulder. In return, he put his arms around her shoulders, letting her head rest on his chest. Her eyes dropped shut soon and she was sound asleep. He pressed a kiss to her forehead, grasped the blanket from the other end of the couch and laid them both down on it. He encircled Jenny's waist with his arms and put her head on his chest once again.

And with Jen in his arms he was asleep in a matter of seconds.

* * *

So did you enjoy reading? I am not entirely happy with the ending, it's a bit too cheesy for my liking...

School starts again Monday so I won't be able to update as regularly as I did the last few days.


	5. Mornings

A/N: I hoped you liked the last chapter, so here is another one. It's kinda jibbs-y too, st least from time to time. Enjoy reading.

Vivi

* * *

Chapter five: Mornings

"Morning" Jen said groggily, her emerald green eyes still closed. Her back hurt, she wasn't really used to sharing her office couch with a rather large someone. And she definitely hated sleeping in one of her office suits.

"Morning sleepyhead" came Gibbs reply in his usual gruffly way.

Suddenly realisation dawned on her. She practically jumped off of the couch, almost knocking over last night's tumbler of bourbon in the process.

"Oh my god Jethro, what time is it? I'm running late. I have a meeting with the director of the FBI at eleven and I don't..."

"Calm down Jen, it can't be that late, Cynthia hasn't even checked in yet."

"Yeah and that isn't some kind of a miracle, it's Monday morning, she is taking her son to day care. Do you see my duffel bag somewhere?"

As the only answer she got was a non-committal grunt she hissed slightly annoyed "Would you have the kindness to actually talk to me? I am not as fluent in "Gibbs" as I used to be."

"Haven't had two cups of coffee yet. No, I don't see your duffel bag. What about it?" He sat down on the couch again, popping his feet onto the table in front of it.

"It contains a set of clothes for me in case I pull an over-nighter again. Seeing the fact it isn't here, it's most likely I forgot it at home yesterday. That anew means we _both_ have to go home to shower and change clothes. And in order to do that we _both_ have to pass your team wearing yesterday's clothes. Tony will have a field day with that. I really don't want to know how many betting pools he will start about our predicament."

"Okay, why don't we deal with this _predicament_ the old-fashioned way? We head through the squad room over to the elevator, act like we do every other day too and if somebody dares to look at us the wrong way, I'll simply headslap him or her into next month." He gave her his usual half-smirk.

"Jethro, you do know that it doesn't actually work that way? You have no idea how much rumours will be started. What if the scuttlebutt reaches SecNav's ears?"

"Just tell him how it was."

"Yeah, I really can see that one coming. 'You know Mr. Secretary, Sir, there's never been a situation. I just crashed on my couch with my agency's best team leader after we both had one too many to drink over dinner. Unfortunenatly, I had left my overnight back at my house this morning, so I didn't have a set of clothing to change into with me. So you see it was completely harmless." Her cheeks flashed red with anger.

"Well that's the way it was."

"Just that no-one will believe us. Even now I am constantly accused of playing favoritism towards you and your team!"

"Come on, hurry up. We'll worry about that when we have to cross that bridge. If we are lucky, my team isn't even in yet. By the way, how did you sleep?"

He heard an outraged "Jethro!" as he opened the door and he knew he was damn lucky he was just followed by her and not the stapler he would swear he saw her reach out to.

* * *

Meanwhile in the bull pen

Very Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo was pleased with himself. Very pleased you may add. He didn't just make it to work in time for once, he was that early that even their fearless leader wasn't seated at his usual spot behind his desk yet. Realising he was in no danger to be caught, he threw a paper clip at Ziva. She looked up shortly but found her paperwork obviously more important than yet another meaningless discussion with her partner. So the senior field agent went on to his next victim.

"Hey _pro-bie_ Gibbs isn't in yet?"

" Well Tony, obviously you haven't had the time to spare a glance at the cars in the parking garage in order to make it to the bull pen in time, otherwise you may have noticed that his car is in his usual parking lot. My guess is he is upstairs with the director."

As if on clue Gibbs opened the doors to Jenny's office and strolled out of the catwalk, closely followed by the redhead herself.

"Jethro, wait for me, NOW!" She sounded annoyed. At this time of the day that could only be described as a bad foreboding. McGee wondered briefly what Gibbs had done this time to piss her so royally off.

"You know McGee, something is off. I wonder was it is. Maybe something about their behaviour or their attitude?" He heard Tony from his left. "It could be something about their clothes though. You notice the director's pants are a bit wrinkled today? Oh my god, that's it! THEY ARE WEARING THE SAME CLOTHES AS YESTERDAY!"

*whack*

"Is that so, DiNozzo? I don't know why you should be so interested in our clothing."

Suddenly Tony saw himself faced with an angry Gibbs and an even furrier director.

"Don't you have enough work to do Agent DiNozzo or why do you have time to gossip?" Rage laced through Jenny's laboriously controlled voice.

"Gibbs, Madam Director, I didn't hear you coming."

"Yeah well DiNozzo, we got that. Let's go Jen. The rest of you find me Márisa Sanchez and her son!"

* * *

When Gibbs strode back into the bull pen half an hour later, his team's usual bickering was missing. Obviously his previous speech had left quite an impression, it looked like Tony and Ziva were actually working for once whereas McGee wasn't behind his desk on his computer.

Ziva was on the phone letting him assume she was harassing someone who had the misfortune to stand in her way. Gibbs almost pitied the guy, but because he seemed to block the team's investigation he let Ziva go on threatening to kill him with various office supplies.

"DiNozzo, where is McGee?"

"Down at Abby's boss. They wanted to trace Márisa's cell phone, but it hasn't been turned on since the kidnapping of her son. So McGenius had the idea to write a program that alerts him as soon as there is any activity and automatically traces the phone. Abby is editing a map about Márisa's whereabouts based on her cell phone records of the last few weeks."

"What are you and Ziva doing DiNozzo?"

"We watched the video footage from outside of Márisa's apartment complex. We didn't catch a glance at the faces of Manuel's kidnapper or his driver, but we got a picture of the license plate. We checked it out and found out that it was stolen. Ziva is currently talking to one of the local LEOs, they want to be involved and Ziva wants the surveillance videos from the night of the robbery."

"I know you would eventually see it my way. Thank you for your co-operation." Ziva told the guy on the other end of the line in a sickly sweet voice.

"DiNozzo, David, go pick up those videos. I'm going for coffee and will check on Abby and McGee on my way back."

* * *

A cup of coffee in his right hand, CafPow! in the other Gibbs strolled 35 minutes later back into NCIS head quarters. He was beyond annoyed because the new kid that was working at his favourite coffee shop had at first messed up his orders and then almost knocked over his precious coffee. As he headed into Abby's lab he saw to his surprise not only Tim and Abby but also Tony and Ziva leaning against a desk.

"What are you two doing here?"

"Gibbs my silver-haired fox." Abby threw her arms around his neck. "Like usually you are absolutely in time. I have just finished editing my map and Timmy is running the face of the guy who stole the license plates through our data base."

At this moment the computer behind her indicated that they had a match. "_El jefe_, you worked your magic, didn't you? I always wonder how you do that. I don't find anything till you come and then _whoosh_ we get a hit."

"Abby" he interrupted her rambling. "What have you got?"

"The name of the guy who stole the plates is Simon Shawn. He has spent the last three years in prison because he had been arrested with drugs one too many times."

"Tony, Ziva, go pick him up. McGee..."

"Gi-ibbs, we are not done yet."

"Yeah Abby?"

"Márisa Sanchez has been at an abandoned warehouse at the south of DC several times over the last few weeks. She was there the day before her son went missing."

"Good work Abby. You and McGee will check any known associates of Simon Shawn while I will talk to the director for a warrant."

* * *

"Hello Jethro, what can I do for you?" Jenny eyed him warily. He had actually knocked on the door to her office and that was slightly disturbing, at least for her.

"I need a warrant for this warehouse." Gibbs handed her a paper with the address.

"Well go down to legal..."

"Jen, I hoped you could get me a warrant _fast_. Márisa Sanchez was there several times before her son was abducted, among others on the day before the kidnapping. Maybe you could talk to some of your friends?"

"So now my _ass-kissing_ is greatly appreciated?"

"Come on Jen, this is the only lead we have concerning this little boy and we don't know how many time he has left."

He saw her eyes soften and knew he had won.

"Okay, I pull a few strings, call in a few favors, see what I can do. You should have your warrant in an hour at the latest."

spontaneously he leaned over her desk and pressed a kiss to her cheek. "Thank you Jen."

Then he was out of the door and she smiled, softly touching her cheek.

* * *

_Reviews are greatly appreciated. xD_


	6. Paul Johnston jr

A/N: So here is the next part of my story. There will be a lot of JIBBS in this one. I hope you have a good read xD

Chapter six: Paul Johnston jr.

True to her words Jenny descended the stairs to the bull pen exactly 55 minutes after her conversation with Jethro. He stood up as he saw her coming but instead of stopping a few feet away from him like she usually did nowadays, she invaded his personal space until her body brushed against his. She stood on her tiptoes so that she was nearly as tall as he was and whispered in a sultry but husky voice in his ear "I have what you need.", sending shivers down his spine.

She pulled back, looked at him with darkened, forest green eyes and bit down on her lower lip.

"Er boss..." He sent DiNozzo the deadliest glare he could master before he looked back at Jenny. Suddenly he became aware of the folder she held out for him to take. He gave her a sly grin.

"See you later" he said in this bedroom voice of his that let erupt goose bumps all over her skin.

She gave him one last self-confident smile, threw her crimson hair back and shouted "Good luck!" over her shoulder. Later he would think that he probably looked like an idiot - grinning like a fool over what he understood as a challenge.

* * *

Two government cars, accompanied by five police cars, pulled up in front of an old abandoned warehouse in the south of Washington DC.

Team Gibbs split up strategically, each member leading a team of four to five local LEOs as back-up. They searched the place thoroughly but didn't find any trace of an human being being hold captive there. After some time Ziva called out to her team mates.

"Come over here. Do you see this? In this room isn't as much dust as in the others, I bet someone has been here. I don't think we will find any finger prints or DNA samples but at least we do know now why Márisa Sanchez was here. Either she met up here with someone who she turned her back to later on and her son was taken out of revenge or she discovered something out of the ordinary and is punished now."

"I think you may actually have a point Ziva. It would make sense that she was forced to sent the e-mails to put some kind of psychical pressure on her, but she isn't our killer. That would also explain, why the smeared partial finger print we found on Staff Sergeant Jonathan Kapmann's neck doesn't belong to her."

"Good thinking Ziva, McGee. I'll have a crime scene unit being sent out here while we are going back to head quarters."

"Er, boss, could we grab some lunch on the way back? Maybe Chinese? Not that I wouldn't take anything else, I just thought..." Tony trailed off.

"You hungry?" Gibbs asked McGee and Ziva who nodded hesitantly. "Ok, David, DiNozzo, go grab lunch then."

* * *

They were just back at the bull pen eating their lunch when Gibbs desk phone rang.

"Yeah Gibbs. - Okay, we will be there in twenty." He turned to the team. "Grab your gear, that was dispatch, we have another dead Staff Sergeant with red ink on his forehead at East Potomac Park."

* * *

Gibbs got out of the car and went straight to who seemed to be the officer in charge.

"Special Agent Gibbs, NCIS. My team Special Agents DiNozzo, McGee and Officer David. What have we got?"

"Staff Sergeant Paul Johnston jr., found by Mandy Tanner. He has red ink on his forehead, an extra black tie around his neck and the bones of his right hand are broken. We didn't touch anything but waited for your ME to arrive."

Gibbs just went on with Ziva and McGee following straight behind while Tony nodded to the officer in thanks before hurrying after them.

"Hey Duck, what did you find?"

"Obviously you can't miss the bullet hole on the back of his head and I dare to say that that's the cause of his death, but to be sure you will have to wait until I have him on one of my tables."

"Time of death?"

"I'd say between midnight and four AM last night. You know, this remembers me of this one case we worked on together with dear Jennifer over in Europe..."

"Thanks Duck. Tony, talk to the witness, Ziva photos and sketches, McGee bag and tag!"

* * *

_Back at NCIS_

When Gibbs strolled into the MCRT area of the bull pen, his team trailing closely behind him, he saw Jenny Shepard sitting on his desk with an angry frown on her face.

"Jethro, what the hell were you thinking? Were you even thinking at all? I..."

"Jen, really, I didn't do anything."

"Don't you dare Jen me now! Shawn's lawyer has just thrown a little tantrum in my office because you exactly didn't do anything. Are you unable to question his client?"

"Jen, Shawn is in interrogation. I was going to question him with Ziva, but then our latest victim was found and I thought it couldn't hurt if he had to wait before we would grill him."

"Now his lawyer will be present, though I still don't know how Shawn could even contact him."

"We'll find out eventually. McGee, you are going to bring the evidence from the scene down to Abby, then you and DiNozzo are going to look into Johnston's private and professional lives. Ziva and I are going to question Shawn. Do you wanna watch Jen?"

"I'll have Cynthia re-arrange my schedule, I'll be there in five."

_NCIS interrogation room I_

"I demand the immediate release of my client. NCIS doesn't have jurisdiction on a case concerning the robbery of a civilian who isn't a military dependent." Shawn's lawyer began talking the moment Ziva and Gibbs entered the interrogation room in which Shawn was hold. Gibbs gave him his trademark glare before he turned to his client.

"Open it." He slid a green folder over the table to Shawn. Hesitantly he put the first photo on the table that showed him stealing the license plates of a red sports car.

"That's you?"

"Yes sir."

"Take the next photo out of the folder." Gibbs watched Shawn execute his order. He swallowed as he saw the dead body of Dean Morrison.

"You know him? That's Staff Sergeant Dean Morrison."

"No sir."

"Are you sure?"

"Agent Gibbs, my client has already said that he doesn't know your victim. I think..."

"I don't care what you think. I wanna hear him say it."

"I don't know him sir."

"Put the next two photos on the table. - Staff Sergeants Jonathan Kapmann and Paul Johnston jr. Have you ever seen them?"

"No sir. I don't know them, I didn't kill anybody, I was in jail for possession, not for murder!" Shawn's panic gaze was drawn to Ziva who seemed to be bored and played with one of her knives.

"Okay Simon, I believe you. Now take the last three pictures out of the folder.

"That's Márisa Sanchez. The little boy is her son, Manuel, but he is called Manolo. He is four years old. I imagine he is pretty scared as he's been without his mother for nearly three weeks. He was abducted to blackmail his mother Simon."

Shawn looked at him with wide eyes, fear in his gaze. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Look at the third picture, at the car. It's a black SUV, stolen. It's the car his kidnapper drove. But that's not why you are here. Do you recognize the license plate Simon? DO YOU RECOGNIZE IT?" He all but shouted.

"Sir, I..."

"Those are the plates you stole Shawn. You know, I think you might be Manolo's kidnapper."

"Please Agent Gibbs, sir, I swear I have nothing to do with this!"

Gibbs eyes were hard as steel, so Shawn turned to Ziva.

"Lady, look at me, please. I didn't kill anybody, neither did I kidnap this little boy. I just stole those plates."

Gibbs put his hands on the table, his eyes focused on Shawn. "Then tell us what you know. Why did you steal them and for who?"

"When I came out of jail, I wanted to change my life, I wanted to be someone. You know, no more drugs but a job, a girlfriend, maybe kids. But I didn't find a job and I was desperate, I didn't know how I should pay for food or my apartment, so I told my friends they should tell people about me, that I was looking for a job.

"One day, someone called me, didn't say his name but that he needed a new set of license plates. Told me that I should "look for them" in the north of DC. I was to bring them three weeks ago to a suburban address he would give me, the next day, if he received them, I would find $10,000 in cash in my mailbox.

"Sure, I knew it was illegal, but it was too good to be true. I stole the plates, but I have absolutely nothing to do with the rest of this mess."

"Ziva, give Abby the address to which he brought the plates. Tell her she shall check the area for security cameras, then tell Tony to call Metro Police, we have their guy."

"Okay Gibbs, I'll meet you in the bull pen."

When Gibbs came out of the interrogation room Jenny waited for him with a smile on her face and a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"You know Jethro, normally I would congratulate you now, but I am still too shocked about the amount of words that left your mouth. I never assumed that I would hear you speak so many words at once one day." She teased.

"I think I remember correctly that you always talked enough for the both of us. " He smirked at her.

"Well, at least that explains why I am better at politics than you are. I talk to them before I threaten to shoot them."

"Who says that that's a threat?" She laughed at that, a sound he had grown to love in Paris, ages ago, as they made their way back to the squad room.

* * *

"I'll be up in my office if you need anything Jethro."

"I'm going for coffee later. Do you wanna tag along?"

"Sure I'd like to. See you then."

"Yeah, see you." They parted ways at the MCRT section of the bull pen. "DiNozzo, what have you got?"

"Hey boss, Abby just called, there aren't any surveillance cameras near the location Shawn gave you, the guy is good. It seems as if he knows every part of the city by heart. Unfortunately the call placed to Shawn came from the same telephone cell from which Márisa Sanchez was called and he also hid his face from the cameras this time."

"What about Staff Sergeant Johnston? McGee?"

"I digged into his private life boss. Johnston was put up for adoption right after his birth. He was raised by Anne Johnston and her late husband Paul Johnston sr. who died 2002. His biological mother was minor when she had him, his father is unknown, and Anne Johnston said that he never seeked any contact with his biological family."

"DiNozzo?"

"I searched his professional live. I talked to his CO, Gunnery Sergeant Andrew Campbell, who told me that Johnston was involved in a joint Army-Navy Operation at the Pentagon. I called the head of said operation, Army Colonel Micheal Eric Sanders, he'll be here in about twenty minutes."

"Okay, good work you two. I'm going for coffee, I think I'll be back when he comes." Gibbs pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed Jenny's number. "Hey Jen, you coming? I'll meet you in front of the building."

* * *

The run for coffee was for Jen like a blast from the past. It felt like they were partners, best friends, all over again. Laughing, flirting, talking about anything but their jobs, just enjoying themselves and a cup of Jamaican blend from the coffee shop down the street. On the way back, Gibbs had his hand on the small of Jenny's back and it felt so familiar to her that she unconsciously leaned more into his side. He put his arm around her waist and hold her close, not intending on letting her go soon. Also in the elevator they didn't pull away from each other, even as they strolled into the bull pen, they stayed int this very same, intimate position.

In front of Tony's desk stood a tall, blond man, wearing an Army uniform. He seemed to be talking to Tony who pointed to them. The man turned around, wrinkled his forehead a little and looked at them.

_"Hello Jennifer."_

* * *

_Yeah, I know cliffhangers are awful, but I am already writing the next chapter so you will know about the relationship between the two of them (Sanders and Jenny) soon._

_I hope you enjoyed reading, please tell me what you think!_


	7. Family issues

A/N: At first: A big THANK YOU at Giovanna for all her reviews, you are amazing. Thank you so much!

So second: I decided to mess a bit with the suicide of Jenny's father, I changed the events a bit so they match the story. Third: lean back and enjoy reading!

* * *

Chapter seven: Family issues

"_Hello Jennifer._ Who's your partner there?"

"Eric, what are you doing here?"

"I am linked to a case of one Special Agent Gibbs."

"That would be me. Who is he Jen?"

"_Jen_? Since when are people allowed to call you that? You own mother doesn't call you _Jen_."

"That's none of your business Eric."

"Oh come on, we haven't seen you in ages. We are family, whether you like it or not. You wasn't even home for Christmas dinner."

"Well, at least I met up with Heather on Boxing Day. I thought you would know that."

Gibbs looked more and more confused by the second. "Heather like the girl you wrote letters all the time when we were over in Europe?"

"Yeah, Heather like my little sister."

At this Gibbs looked downright angry. "My conference room, NOW!"

* * *

He took her arm and pulled her towards the elevator. As soon as it was between two floors, he hit the emergency switch and stared at an angry, confused Jenny.

Finally she couldn't bear the silence any longer so she hissed "Why didn't you tell me that you have him brought in?"

"Why didn't you tell me that you have a sister and that obviously your father is pretty much alive? I thought he was long dead!" he gave back, at least as furious as she.

"This man is not my father!" Jenny spat out. "He is the reason for my dad's suicide!"

"What do you mean?"

"That isn't any of your damn business Agent Gibbs. Now, let me out of here." She stepped forward and wanted to bring the elevator back to live, but Gibbs blocked her path with his body. He went towards her so that she was forced to take a step back till her back hit the silver wall of the elevator and he was invading her personal space. He put his hands on her shoulders and looked straight down into her sad emerald orbs.

"What did he do to him, to you Jen?" Tears gleamed in her eyes but she refused to let them fall.

"Don't Jethro, just don't ask. Please. It's nothing major, but I don't like to talk about this whole thing, including my father's death."

He nudged her temple with his nose. "Jen, hey, talk to me. The death of your father is something major to you and you know that. Come here." He took her in his arms and for the sweet brief seconds she let him hold her tight, it felt like no time at all had passed since their mission in France. When she pulled back slightly, she let him keep his arms around her intending to enjoy the feeling of security and familiarity he gave her just a little while longer to gather the strength she needed to tell him her story.

"My mom and dad both came from money, they met at a private school in Georgetown when she was twelve and he sixteen. At first they were just friends, but as my mother became older, their feelings for each other changed. My father graduated and went to college and they both had other relationships, but when he came back to DC, they got together. My mom was my dad's first and only love and when he signed up for the Army and was about to be deployed, he married her. A few months later she wrote him she was pregnant, that was in october 1969, she just turned seventeen.

"My grandparents gave my father our family brownstone as a present and let my mother live there until my father came back from war. Five months later, I was born.

"My dad was ecstatic, he loved my mother with all he had and me even more. From the first minute on, I was daddy's little girl. We could have been a happy little family, my father even wanted to cut back on his hours in order to spend more time with us, but my mother was pretentious and needed a lot of money, so Dad worked harder to climb up the ladder and fulfill her needs.

"I don't blame everything that happened on her, in hindsight I think she just wasn't ready to commit to a child or a relationship, she wasn't ready for me. She had been only seventeen when she had me, so she just wanted to go back to her life how it was before me in it. I don't say she didn't love me, but it was hard on me, silently watching her wishing for another life.

"When my father was deployed again, she left me with nannies to pursuit her interests. I think she had a lot of affairs over the time, but at this point I thought she would go to work too. It took me a few years to realise that we were wealthy enough, that she didn't need to work.

"I was about ten years old when she started an affair with Micheal Eric Sanders, my dad was his CO at the time, but it turned into something serious. My dad didn't have the slightest idea of all her "extramarital relationships", as she called them, all he ever wanted was to make his one work. So naturally when she came clean because she was pregnant from a good friend of his, he was devastated.

"She wanted to take me with her, but I wouldn't go. When I was thirteen, a few months before Heather's birth, there was a custody trial about my case that my dad eventually won so I could live with Dad.

"When he was deployed, Noemi would stay with me, she was a better mother to me than mine had ever been. Don't get me wrong, her second attempt on motherhood was a success, she was great with Heather, still is, but she failed me and the tight bond between her and my sister hurt me even further. I felt abandoned and neglected what in turn strained my relationship with my mother to an extend. When I turned 15 I spoke only extremely reluctantly to her, but I loved my sister. I spent almost every minute I spent with them on playing with her. I slowly began to cope, my father on the other hand never stopped blaming himself for the failure of his marriage.

"I got older, more independent, but I still clinged to my dad. One day, I had gone out with friends, I came home a little after my curfew and he had almost drunk himself into oblivion. He nearly passed out on his desk in his study. Normally, he would have been too damn stubborn to actually talk to me, but as a result of his drunken state, he spilled his guts to me. I thought we would be better after that, but two months later, when I was in my room reading, I heard the sound of a gun being fired and I ran down and..."

At this point sobs shook her petite frame. His heart went out to her as he stroke her raid her to soothe her and kissed her temple, lingering. Loss was an emotion he knew, he could deal with that. He wasn't prepared to hear her going on with her story though, but listened to her nevertheless.

"I came into the study and I saw him. A tumbler of scotch still in front of him, his head on his desk. He hold his gun in his hand, there was blood everywhere and on the floor... his brain matter. On his temple, there was a..." She broke off again, hungrily taking in the comfort he granted.

"He had a hole in his skull. I blamed my mother and my step-father for his suicide.

"After my dad's death they wanted me to live with them, but I was already nineteen and decided to live in an apartment near the college, but I kept the townhouse.

"After I had finished college and enrolled in FLET-C, I moved back into the brownstone. I stayed in touch with Heather, always. I wrote her letters from Europe, Egypt, Israel, practically all parts of the world I were stationed at, apart from the times I was deep undercover.

"I speak to my mom only briefly on Thanksgiving and Christmas, I haven't seen her for years. I spend those holidays with my aunt Rebecca, the sister of my father, and her family, but Heather and I, we go Black Friday-shopping and meet up on Boxing Day. Most of the time also the day after her birthday and on mine. She is like a best friend to me, although she is thirteen years younger than I am."

He listened to her till the end, happy that she had at least a small part of them she considered family left whereas he lost his all at once. He contemplated if he should tell her about Shannon and Kelly, if he could trust her with his heart again. He decided to take the chance.

"Lost someone too." He told her gruffly, keeping his emotions at bay. "Shan and Kel, my first wife and our daughter."

She looked up at him, touching his jaw lightly with her fingertips and knowing that it was now her part to give him the strength to pull through.

"Shannon witnessed a murder." He whispered in a husky voice "She and Kelly were under protection of NIS. An agent drove them to Kel's piano lesson and was shot in the head. They died in the car crash." He had unshed tears in his eyes and she realised that remembering was as hard for him as it was for her.

She put his arms around his waist and tilted her head up, kissing his jaw softly where she had just touched him seconds before.

He took her face in his hands, stroking her cheeks lightly in a loving caress.

"You fixed me Jen, you know that? I felt whole again, in love. It felt so good to know that there was a person that loved me as much as I loved her, without any conditions."

She had tears in her eyes, she was the one that had walked away from him, that had broken him all over again. The regret she felt was overwhelming. She let the tears fall and he wiped them away with his thumbs.

He lifted her chin up and bent down to kiss her, a sweet, tender kiss that showed her all the emotions bottled up inside him. She saw the question in his eyes and knew he wanted her to fix him again as much as she wanted him to do the same thing for her.

She closed her eyes and kissed him back, knowing he knew what she wanted to say.

* * *

_So that was quite a long chapter, pretty much without the team and anything the case concerning in it, but I hope you had fun reading it though._

_I know the part about Shannon and Kelly is very short in comparison to Jen's story, but first I thought we all knew it and second I can't imagine Gibbs spelling all his emotions to her even if he loves Jen as much as I hoped he does :)._

_A friend of mine told me that maybe the story was a bit too straight forward as Gibbs and Jenny are as good as together at the end of chapter seven, but I have great plans for them, I don't know how I get them to do what I want them to do though. Maybe I just have to write another fanfic..._

_I hope you liked it, please leave reviews!_


	8. Army-Navy missions

_A/N: Sorry for the delay, I am quite busy lately, but I will try to update at least once a week. I hope that you like the story so far. So here is the next chapter with less jibbs but more crime in it...:D Enjoy reading_

* * *

Chapter eight: Army-Navy Missions

Jenny opened her eyes again as Gibbs brushed a few strands of curly red hair out of her face. He gave her a half-smile while he hit the emergency switch and the elevator jolted back to life. He looked down at her and took all of her appearance in: the red hair and lips, the porcelain skin and the emerald-green eyes with a mischievous glint in them. "How much do you think your team bet on you killing me?" She asked, ripping him out of his thoughts.

"Probably as much as on us having an intense make-out session in here." He gave back.

She laughed, her eyes beaming. "Wouldn't be that far from the truth, would it?"

The elevator doors opened and they pulled slightly away from each other.

"Do you fancy chinese take out in your office tonight?" He whispered in her ear so Tony at his desk couldn't hear him as they made their way over to him and Sanders.

"Yeah, I'd love to." She gave back as quietly, conscious of the attention the other agents in the squad room paid them. They parted ways at the bottom of the staircase, she went up to her office while he was approaching his Senior Field Agent and the Army Colonel.

"Ziver, escort Colonel Sanders to interrogation room II." As the pair left the bull pen area, he turned to McGee and DiNozzo. "DiNozzo, speak to Johnston's CO again, find out what he knows about this Army-Navy mission. McGee, I want you to dig further into his private life, see if his friends have noticed something out of the ordinary or if he had a girlfriend."

Their responses of "On it boss" followed him on his way to Ziva and Sanders.

* * *

"Army Colonel Micheal Eric Sanders." Gibbs said as he entered interrogation room II. "This is Mossad Officer Ziva David, I am Special Agent Gibbs."

"I know that much Agent Gibbs. I am more interested in the nature of your relationship with my step-daughter."

"And I am more interested in why those three Marines ended up killed." He nodded to Ziva who placed the autopsy photos of the Staff Sergeants on the table in front of Sanders. Gibbs observed him, his eyes cold and harsh as the other man didn't show any sign of nervousness.

"I know that _you_ aren't the murderer Colonel, but I want to know every single bit there is to know about the mission _he_ was involved in." Gibbs pointed at the picture of Johnston.

"That's classified and way about your clearance Agent Gibbs. I don't even think I would be allowed to tell Jennifer. This could put us in a distressful situation if it got out."

"I don't care Sanders. I want to know what got them killed and I don't think you can guarantee me that it has to 100% nothing to do with that Army-Navy mission Johnston was a part of."

Sanders eyes darted across the room, from the Gibbs to Ziva to the one way mirror back to Gibbs. He pressed his lips together and sighed.

"Fine, I will read you in. But _just_ you" He glanced to Ziva "and the recording machines must be off."

Gibbs caught his gaze, then he nodded shortly to the Israeli. "Ziver, turn the recording machines off, then go help McGee and DiNozzo."

After she had left the room, Gibbs sat down on the table vis-à-vis from Sanders. "So? I'm listening."

"When our men came back home from Iraq three years ago, they told us about terrorist from the local al-Qaeda cell who used the same weapons as our troops over there. Not much later, the same thing was reported by our Afghanistan veterans. Army CID looked into it and found out that all kinds of weapons had been stolen from our bases for the previous five years. Shortly after that we were informed that there were weapons stolen from Marine bases too, obviously by someone with a great knowledge about the concerning bases and the staff.

"After about two years we had narrowed the cell down enough so we could send a Marine undercover, that was Johnston. He acted as a source for new weapons and was soon accepted by most of the members of the cell. All of them were Ex-Marines or Ex-Army who were dishonorable discharged, quite a few of them because of drug abuse or possession.

"Staff Sergeant Johnston was able to find out that they sold the weapons to an Mexican arms and drug cartel, obviously quite experienced in everything that concerned arms or dealing with them. The sold them to al-Qaeda that in return gave them to any kind of anti-american terrorists in the Middle East."

"What about Morrison and Kapmann?" Gibbs wanted to know. "Their COs didn't say anything about a possible involvement in this mission."

"They weren't involved as much as Johnston. They were just his back-up team, they shadowed him and kept him safe. Their job was to sit in our surveillance van together with the folks from Army CID and identify the members of the cell Johnston met up with at the warehouse where they store the weapons."

"Why weren't we informed of this earlier? Maybe we could have prevented the murders of Kapmann and Johnston if you had read us in after Morrison's murder! I need the address of the warehouse and the names of the identified terrorists." Gibbs growled, furiously looking at Sanders.

"You don't even know for sure that the mission is linked to their deaths! And as I told you earlier we couldn't take the risk that something could probably leak out to the press."

"So that is what you get for sacrifice yourself for your country? The press is more important than justice for three killed Marines?" Gibbs shouted as he turned around and stormed out of the room. He was in need for a few quiet minutes before he would rip somebody's head off.

* * *

By the time Gibbs returned to the bull pen, his team had already received the address of the warehouse and all known information on the cell.

"Boss" McGee shouted "the warehouse Márisa Sanchez was at is the same one as the warehouse where the terrorists store the stolen weapons!"

"Good job McGee. Anything else?"

"Yeah, I looked into his private life once more and found out that Morrison, Kapmann, and Johnston have known each other before they became involved in the mission. All of them are from Minesota and Anne Johnston told me that she knew both Morrison's and Kapmann's adoptive parents. They went to High School together but signed up for the Marines at different points of time, that's why they didn't do their basic training together." McGee reported.

"Did you find out how Márisa Sanchez is linked to this?"

"Not yet boss, but we are working on it. Ziva and I are checking out the members of the terrorist cell and McProbie's about to trace their cell phones to get a location. We were thinking about to compare Shawn's known associates with the ones of the members of the cell, so we can find out who told him to abduct Manolo so we can check out any possible locations."

"Okay, good thinking Tony. I'm going for coffee. You guys want something?"

"Er, you okay boss?"

"Why shouldn't I be DiNozzo?"

"Well you know you just asked me if I wanted coffee..."

"I know that DiNozzo."

"...and normally you only ask the director 'cause you like her..."

*whack*

"You know what boss, never mind. I'd take one with cream and sugar please. Er shutting up now."

McGee and Ziva just nodded in his direction to indicate they wanted the same thing, silently wondering how anybody could be so stupid as DiNozzo.

When he was sure Gibbs had left Tony smiled pleased with himself at his team mates. "Did he really just asked if we wanted coffee too? And he didn't deny that he likes the director. I have to mark that day in my calendar!"

* * *

_Old abandoned warehouse in Fairfax, Virginia_

A small four-year old boy sat in the middle of the room he had spent the last three weeks in. He didn't like his room, though it was cozy and bright, it was quite unfamiliar. He missed his Mama terribly, in fact he hadn't seen her at all for the amount of time he'd been with the _scary man_. Three times a day, another man brought him food and something to drink, sometimes he would talk a bit to the little boy, but most of the time he was alone.

Although he wanted desperately somebody to speak to, Manolo Sanchez was wary about the man that brought him food since he seemed to be a good friend of the _scary man_.

The _scary man _himself only came by from time to time to see Manolo, the last time had been a few days ago, when he had had to sign a letter for his Mama.

He didn't understand what this was all about, he hadn't done anything wrong, right? So why was he punished? Why didn't his Mama want to see him? Didn't she miss him at all?

Manolo was ripped out of his thoughts when the door opened again, revealing the _scary man_ he feared so much. He could still feel the bruises that covered his entire body in various shades from yellow-green to blueish-purple that he had got as he had been beaten during the man's previous visits.

He didn't know what the man wanted yet, but the devilish smirk on his face let the little boy panic instantly.

* * *

_Here you go. I hope you liked the chapter. Please leave a review, especially if there is anything concerning grammar or spelling that I got horribly wrong. I chose English as an A-Level course, I really need someone telling me about my mistakes._


	9. Dinner

A/N: Thanks to all of you who read this story and left a review, especially to Ladyaloysius :). So here is the next chapter, have fun.

Chapter nine: Dinner

As Márisa heard the cracking sound just outside of her holding cell, she knew instantly what was about to happen - the memories of the execution of _his _latest victim she had had to witness still freshly on her mind. _He_ had staged his body again, red ink on his forehead, a black tie around his neck, right hand broken. Staff Sergeant Johnston had never stood a chance. It made her sick.

Normally she would have thought he was a psychopath, simply mad, but he seemed to have a plan, some greater insight. Maybe that was what classified him as the classical text-book psychopath in the first place.

He didn't talk as he entered, his facial expression gave nothing away. He seemed even more like a maniac now than when he had worn his sick devilish grin when she had first met him. He passed her a USB stick and a piece of paper, presumably the address of the internet café from where she should send the e-mail to the dead Staff Sergeant's e-mail address.

She stood up, didn't quite know what to do until he pressed a third object in her free hand. Her head spun as she looked at the wrinkled photo.

_Manolo._ His face was blotchy, he looked like he had cried and he had bruises all over his arms, but he was alive. Her baby boy was alive.

_"Let's keep him this way, shall we?"_ There was the devilish grin again.

Tears streamed down her face. If she cried out of happiness because her son was alive, or of fear or anger she wasn't sure about though.

* * *

The elevator doors opened at the bull pen and the gray-haired agent exited, a tray full of coffee cups clutched in his right hand. He gritted his teeth, unsure if he should be annoyed or laugh about the fact that his redheaded ex-partner stood, surrounded by his team, in front of the plasma screen and acted like the field agent she once had been.

"Playing agent again Jen?" He passed the tray to his team after having taken his own cup from it.

"Having a problem again Jethro?" He glared at her as she took his coffee and sipped at it before giving it back to him. "SecNav is breathing down my neck, Jethro. He wants this solved, better sooner than later. He has heard about Manolo Sanchez, his grand-children are about his age and he wants both, him and his mother, back safe and sound. On top of this he ordered me to attend this black tie function at Jefferson's hotel this evening." She looked downright disappointed at the end of her rant, having looked forward to spending the evening with him and maybe a bottle of Jack.

"I can come with you if you'd like me there." He offered having forgotten about his team whose mouths hung slightly open at that. Had their boss-man really just asked their lady boss whose temper they were beginning to fear out on a date? At Jefferson's hotel? And she hadn't shot him yet?

"Yeah, I'd like that." She answered, a small smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

And had said lady boss really just agreed to take their fearless leader with her to a black tie function? That was clearly an attempt to commit political suicide.

*whack*

"What are you smirking about DiNozzo? Whip that grin from your face or I will have Ziva be in charge of the team to make sure that nobody goes home before we have a hint!"

"Got it boss. Going back to work now. Have a nice evening, boss, Madam Director."

"You know what Agent DiNozzo? I think today might just be Miss Sciuto's lucky day." Jen said in a dangerously low voice.

"And why is that ma'am?" DiNozzo gulped.

"I think she might witness her first keel hauling today." At that Tony's eyes widened in fear while Ziva and McGee broke out in hysterical laughter. Gibbs smirked as he put his arm around Jenny's waist and led her towards the elevator.

"Call me as soon as you got something" He shouted in his team's direction before the doors slit shut in front of him and Jenny.

* * *

It was ten forty-five now and they still didn't have a lead. Abby had come up to see them, she and McGee were checking if any of Simon Shawn's known associates were members of the terror cell while Ziva and Tony went over said terrorists to link them to any potential where abouts of Márisa Sanchez and her son. So far, they hadn't found anything and they were getting frustrated. Tony had an uneasy feeling in his gut and although his gut feelings weren't known to be as precise as those of their boss, he knew something was about to happen.

He came to the next name on the list, Gregory Lewis. He punched the letters on his keyboard and a new window opened upon the screen of his computer. Gregory Lewis was thirty-five years old and quite wealthy as he owned several real estates in the DC area. He had been dishonorably discharged from the Marines two years ago, since then he had been known for his irrational hatred against anything and everything that concerned the USMC only in the slightest.

Behind him Tony heard Abby and McGee speaking lowly to each other. The feeling of danger in the pit of his stomach spread slowly over his whole thinking. If only he knew what this was about.

* * *

The ballroom of Jefferson's hotel was filled by all the important people DC had to offer, wearing tuxes or beautiful evening gowns and amusing themselves by playing politics. Normally Gibbs would run as far away as he could possibly get from an event like this, even if it had been initiated in honor of a group of Marines who had been hold hostage in Iraq and recently been freed by a special unit trained to do exactly that.

The only reason there wasn't at least a distance of two miles in-between him and this room was standing next to him giving him elevator eyes. He grinned smugly. He certainly hoped this evening was about more than watching her politely talking to other agency heads and shaking the money tree for NCIS while stopping the wandering hands of most of the present politicians. Jennifer Shepard was surely the best-looking woman of all in this room so he hadn't been surprised that everybody had looked at them when they had entered the room. He looked back at her over the rim of his glass, remembering the beginning of the evening.

_He met her at her house around eight o'clock because she had decided that they would let her chauffeur drive them to the hotel in her town car. She opened the door for him wearing an emerald-green evening gown that complimented her eyes and hugged her petite figure. The ivory skin of her shoulders was exposed to him as was her back, her hair was a curly mess that almost screamed at him to run his hands through it. He cupped her cheeks and kissed her, tenderly at first, but as the kiss became more demanding and passionate, he let his hands roam over her body, grazing her breasts and earning a faint moan from her. When they parted, both of them had to gasp for air as she ran a slender finger along his lips. She smiled lovingly, her eyes slightly darker than usual while she grazed his neck with her teeth until she nipped at his earlobe and whispered in a husky murmur in his ear "I certainly hope you will have the time to continue this later on." She trailed her hand dangerously low on his stomach and it took all he had in him not to take her there and then against the nearest wall._

"Jethro? You okay?" The woman in question looked at him over the rim of her glass. He took her free hand and brushed his lips over her knuckles, making a faint blush creep up her face. He smiled at her, not caring about the stares the "director and her mysterious date" were gaining, but lovingly stroking her hair.

"Let's get out of here." He said as his cell phone began to ring.

* * *

_Meanwhile at NCIS_

"Oh my god! We have a problem. A big problem like the world stopping to turn or something breaking the laws of gravity. Is that even possible? Gibbs would know if... Oh my god Gibbs! And the director!" A hysterical Abby jumped on her feet.

"Abbs, Abby, ABBY! Slow down!" McGee shouted, drawing the attention of his team members to him and the forensic scientist.

"I can't. You don't understand. How could I possibly be so stupid? They are going to die because of me..."

"Abby, what are you talking about?" DiNozzo looked away from his screen and at her.

"I forgot to check Johnston's e-mail account earlier today, so when I hacked into it a few minutes ago, I found the "usual" pictures of Staff Sergeant Johnston's staged body, but below the photo was a note saying "Take care Marines, the next event is mine!". Gibbs and the director are at a USMC function!"

"Okay, Abby, McGee, you check the surveillance videos of Jefferson's hotel, Ziva you call the agent in charge of the security for the function and I'll call Gibbs."

* * *

Gibbs picked up his phone while he observed the agents positioned along the walls slowly moving towards the doors. Suddenly the atmosphere changed, they were moving hurriedly now and shouting orders at the guests to stay put and let them handle the situation. As the main entrance to the room flew open, Gibbs automatically shielded Jenny's body with his'. The door slammed against the wall and a man wearing black from head to toe stormed in.

For several seconds a shocked silence ruled the room till hell broke loose as the intruder drew his weapon.

* * *

A/N: So that's it so far. I am not entirely sure yet how this will work out, but I have quite a few ideas. I hope you enjoyed reading.


	10. The night before

A/N: So here is the new chapter. I hope you will enjoy reading.

* * *

Chapter ten: The night before

"Agent Bailey? Do you hear me? What's going on there?" Ziva shouted almost hysterically into the mouthpiece of her phone. All she could hear was an eery silence and then _desperate_ cries and the agent in charge at Jefferson's didn't answer anymore. "Agent Bailey, copy NOW!"

"Ziva, what has happened over there?" Abby's big green eyes were full of tears.

"I don't know for sure. When I called Bailey everything was fine. He said they would secure the doors and the windows of the hall and then he notified me that they were moving. Suddenly the guests hearable in the background panicked and Bailey didn't copy anymore."

_"Officer David, this is Agent Bailey. Are you still there?"_

* * *

**Jefferson's hotel:**

In a matter of seconds, Gibbs' brain had processed the situation for him. Most importantly he had to protect Jenny and keep her out of harm's way, then he could worry about the other guests. When he had completed the task at hand he could go on and catch the bloody bastard that momentarily threatened Jenny. Indeed not her in particular, but he absolutely did not care about semantics like this right now.

He pushed Jenny to the ground behind on of the tables that seemed to be positioned randomly around the room, then he ordered the rest of the guests to take cover behind them too. After that Gibbs waited a few seconds until the intruder was preoccupied by movements on the other side of the hall to run to the nearest wall and push himself flat against it. He could practically feel Jenny's eyes glued to his back and hoped to god she wouldn't do anything near as stupid as to follow him. Slowly and carefully he made his way along the wall over to who seemed to be the agent in charge.

"Why haven't you taken him out already?" He asked with just the slightest hint of anger in his voice.

"Who the hell are you? Go back and take cover behind one of the tables!" The man hissed back at him.

"Special Agent Jethro Gibbs, NCIS."

"Well then you should be familiar with Officer David who I have currently on the line telling me to take him down alive since he is important for an investigation of yours."

"Okay, so here's the plan: you move your men over there to the space in-between him and the guests so he cannot hurt or shoot them. While you are distracting him, I will move behind him and knock him to the ground. Clear?"

Agent Bailey didn't like taking orders from anyone, especially not from an elderly NCIS agent in a monkey suit who stood undubitable below him in the federal food chain, but he knew he had very little choice and if this went down the wrong way, he could always blame NCIS.

"Clear sir." He confirmed shortly.

* * *

Jenny Shepard was 100% sure that her ex-lover turned current lover wanted to give her a heart attack. Or a stroke. Or maybe both of it together. Why else did he have to get involved in this mess instead of leaning back and letting the FBI and Secret Service do their job?

She couldn't see him anymore momentarily when the agents formed a human shield between the shooter and the present politicians. She turned a little to the side so that she had eye contact again. He moved along the wall, an outsider amidst the agents but nevertheless blending in seamlessly because of his confident and purposeful attire. Her breathing hitched as he walked directly towards their aggressor and she swore _if she made it out of there alive, she would kill him herself. How did he dare taking such a risk?_

She griped her arm, _hard_, and her nails bored in it painfully. Jethro stood about five feet behind the man, his SIG in his hand. She could only pray he was as good at sneaking up on someone as Tony always claimed he was. Her heart hammered in her chest and she had a lump in her throat as he made slowly and deliberately his last steps towards the shooter. He lifted his arm up, ready to hit him to the ground.

* * *

He felt like someone was sneaking up on him, as lowly as a second shadow, so he couldn't hear him but knew instantly he _was_ there. He spun around, faced the silver-haired guy, looked into his cerulean eyes and his world went black.

* * *

Leroy Jethro Gibbs more _felt _him moving than he actually saw him out of the corner of his eye. Before he even realised what he was doing, he had hit the man's temple with the handle of his gun. He was out of it immediately. Gibbs heard Agent Bailey talking to Ziva again and felt Jen coming towards him while he bent down to search the man's pockets for an ID. He squeezed Jenny's hand briefly as she touched his shoulder and gave her a reassuring smile. When he found a wallet he got down to business again.

"What's his name?" Jenny asked from behind him.

"Gregory Lewis. I have Abby and McGee check him out as soon as we have him in custody."

A little while later, Jenny was calling SecNav to inform him of the situation that had taken place almost an hour ago, the team strolled into the ballroom.

"Nice tux boss. Didn't even know you owned one..."

"Oh come on Tony, the man has been divorced three times. He has to have a tux left from one of his marriages."

"DiNozzo, David, you are both begging for a headslap!"

"We didn't mean to make fun of you, right Ziva? It was harmless, just..."

*whack*

"Hey, what was that for _Zee-vah_?"

"Better you than me Tony..."

"Could the two of you just shut the hell up now? Take him into interrogation, we will let him stew the night. McGee, find out everything there is about Gregory Lewis."

"Gregory Lewis boss?"

"Yeah McGee. Did I stutter? Where is the problem?"

"No boss, not at all. It's just he was on this list Sanders gave us. The members of the terror cell, ya know? He was a Marine, dishonorable discharged a few years ago."

"Okay, check him again. Look for any real estates, houses, apartments where he could hide Márisa and Manolo Sanchez. I bet he has something to do with our case. This wasn't a coincidence!"

* * *

"You ready to go home now?"

"Yeah, you know in fact I was ready before your mobile even rang and Lewis came. Is Stanley already here?"

"Yeah, he is. Let me help you with your coat."

"So chivalry isn't dead yet?"

"Haha, very funny Jen. Come on, let's go."

It was cold on the streets of DC, mainly because it was January, but there was a particular icy chill in the air. So it was only naturally that she would stand as near to him as possible.

"Jen" he growled lowly as her body brushed against his lower half. At first the woman was a fucking tease all evening long, having let him see always just enough cleavage to keep him happy and touched him just enough to get him frustrated and then when they were only about twenty minutes away from her bed, she began to pull stunts like this. He was definitely fed up with it. If Stanley didn't come soon, he would screw her senseless against the car right in front of him.

"Jen" he warned her again as her hand trailed purposefully lower on his abdomen.

"Yes?" She looked up at him, batting her eyelashes innocently as if to conceal that her forest green eyes were darkened with arousal. She kissed him hard, hungry, lustful, all at once, gripping the lapels of his jacket for support and coaxing his mouth open. She let him hear an appreciating moan when their tongues met and a louder one as he felt up her breasts. He was about to lay her down on the trunk of the car when Stanley arrived. If he was surprised about the indecent posture his boss and her best agent were currently in, he didn't show it. He merely opened the door for them and helped them in, put up the divider and pulled out of the parking lot. He was discreet after all.

Back in the fond of the car, things got heated. Gibbs was kissing his way down Jenny's neck, determined to leave a mark. She returned the favor by grazing her teeth along his carotid artery down to the bottom of his neck. Before they could get too carried away Stanley announced they had pulled up in front of the brownstone.

They couldn't keep their hands of one another on the way from her car to the front porch, it had been just too long since they had last had this kind of physical contact. When they were inside he pushed her up against the door, his hand going instantly to her back searching for the zipper of her dress. It pooled around her feet, making her look unbelievable sexy. He pulled it down agonizingly slowly and touched every inch of skin he revealed in the progress. She seeked for his lips, capturing them between her own and nibbled softly on his bottom lip. He broke away from her for a moment to appreciate her appearance. Her crimson hair was a tangled mess, her lips were swollen from the kisses they had shared and her green eyes were full of longing and need.

"Jethro" she breathed hoarsely as she pushed him back a little and stepped out of her dress.

Jenny took his hand in hers, letting her thumb caress his knuckles briefly while she pulled him to the stairs. She blushed under his intense stare, he was clearly enjoying the view of her backside. He hadn't seen her in only her undergarments and stockings for a very long time. He picked her up bridal style, let his gaze linger on her green lace bra while he carried her up the stairs. He definitely wore too much for his liking and apparently for her's too as she began to undo the buttons of his dress shirt. She pushed it from his shoulders together with his jacket before her hands went to his belt. He laid her gently down on her bed, then he got rid of his trousers, shoes and socks.

He kissed the column of her neck, moved down to her collarbone and then along her sternum down to her belly button. He heard her sharp intake of breath when he continued further down before he brought his head back up to lick her hardened nipples through the thin lace of her bra. She arched her back, pressing her breast to his mouth as he sneaked a hand to her back, unclasping her bra.

He smirked smugly down at her. Her normally pale skin was flushed, her nipples accentuated and he could almost smell her arousal. Long and slowly flew out of the window.

He rolled her stockings down her thighs, one at a time, before he pulled at her green lace thong. She hissed angrily as he sent the item flying through the room but lost the ability to form a coherent thought soon after as he positioned himself above her and slid slowly into her.

Some time later as they had both reached their climax, she let her head rest on his chest and snuggled further up into his side. She pressed feather light kisses to his chest and neck, content to just lay there. He held her securely in his arms while he drew invisible patterns on her back as he heard her breathing evening out. He followed her to sleep soon after.

* * *

A/N: So that's it. Turns out it is a bit smuttier than I intended, but I think it was okay...

Review please!


	11. The morning after

Chapter 11: The morning after

Jenny awoke early the next morning in a position similar to the one she woke up in mere days ago as she and Jethro had spent the night on the couch in her office. His arms were wrapped around her midsection, her head rested on his chest. She looked out of the window, it was still pitch black outside and she would have happily surrendered to sleep if Gibbs' damned alarm clock hadn't reminded her it was time to get up. She silenced the offending item before she began to press kisses all over his torso. When she brought her head up to kiss him on the lips, he opened his eyes and pulled her on top of him.

"You do know we have to get up, don't you? I wouldn't want to give your team yet another reason to gossip."

"We could call in sick."

"Oh, come on Jethro, you are never ill. Which bug would want to attack you anyway?"

"You would..."

"If that is your decent way to tell me something Jethro, you better say it straight away." She smiled down at him as he wrapped a strand of her hair around his finger.

"Okay, let's get up, but I want a rain check in the shower." He trailed his fingers down her spine and heard her breathing catching in her throat.

"That certainly can be arranged." She replied huskily and leant down to kiss him once more.

* * *

After a failed attempt to save water by sharing a shower and a pit stop at Starbuck's to buy coffee, Jenny and Gibbs entered the bull pen at quarter to seven. They made their way over to McGee, the only present member of the MCRT.

"McGee, where are Ziva and DiNozzo?"

"Getting breakfast boss. We were in at six o'clock sharp and Ziva figured it would be nice to actually have breakfast before we question Lewis." As if on clue, Ziva and Tony strolled back into the bull pen.

"See Tony, I told you it would be good to buy breakfast for Jenny and Gibbs too."

"I hope you didn't get me one of Agent DiNozzo's breakfast burritos Zee?"

"Wouldn't dream of it Jenny. I've got one of those _pain au chocolate_ you liked so much when we were in Europe."

"Thanks a lot. You really have just made my day."

Gibbs couldn't help but smile at that. He remembered exactly how slowly she had always eaten them, savoured every bit of taste and moaned in appreciation after she had finished it.

"You still fancy those?" he whispered in her ear.

"Yeah, they are really good here, but they were great in Paris. Everything was great there. After I left I thought of you every time I bought one." She whispered back and it took everything for him to only brush his hand against her's instead of kissing her and giving away their secret relationship.

"Well, I better go up to my office. Tell me as soon as you get a lead on where Márisa and Manolo Sanchez are."

* * *

Lewis' head rested on top of his right hand on the table in the interrogation room, his eyes were tightly shut. He seemed to sleep, maybe a bit too sound, as he didn't even stirred when Gibbs banged the door against the wall first and then slammed her close. _Did he really think pretending to be asleep would do him any good?_

"Get up Lewis. This isn't a social visit. I want to know where they are, TODAY!" Gibbs threw the photos of Márisa and her son on the table.

"I won't tell you anything. I don't co-operate with the feds."

"The weapons you dealt with are killing out men in Iraq and Afghanistan. You will be accused of treason and spend the next thirty to thirty-five years of your live in prison if you don't co-operate with us. Do you fancy being locked up in Guantanamo?"

"I don't care. Why would I anyway? The core was my life, my unit my family, but your family cares for you when you need them. The corps just left me without help when I returned home. I started to take drugs, it was a cry for help, but they turned me down, discharged me dishonorably. I hate them for what they did to me and when I was offered a chance for revenge, i took it."

"So you tell me you sell weapons to al-Qaeda to get the people killed who would have given their lives for you?"

"They let me down! I had no money, no family anymore. I made a small fortune selling those weapons, I'm a respected man again!"

"Respected by traitors!"

"Respected by my friends. We don't let each other down, we help each other. When I was told to take the boy, I did it. That's what friends do!"

"WHERE IS HE? WHERE IS HIS MOTHER?" Gibbs grasped the lapels of his jacket in a vise like grip and shoved him against the wall. "WHERE ARE THEY?" He asked menacingly, his voice barely above a whisper.

"I don't know anything about the mother, I swear!"

"Where is the boy?" Gibbs pushed him farther into the wall, believing him that he didn't know where Márisa was. Just for good measure he extended the pressure on Lewis' collarbone a bit more. He heard his sharp intake of breath as the door flew open and Tony, Tim, and Ziva stormed in.

"I will ask you only one last time. Where - is - the - boy?" Gibbs voice was dangerous, he stressed each syllable of his question.

"In the basement in my house in DC." Gibbs let go of Lewis and turned to his team. "McGee -"

"Find the address and gas the truck, on it Boss."

"Ziva, DiNozzo -"

"Take him down to the holding cells while you tell the director, I know Boss. We'll meet you in the parking garage."

Gibbs smirked to himself on the way up to Jenny's office. He really loved it that his team had learned to anticipate.

* * *

Her office door was slammed against the spot on her wall where she was fairly certain was a dent by now from all the previous times the door had hit that particular spot.

"So Jethro, what is the reason for your visit?"

"Thought you wanted to be kept in the loop about Manolo Sanchez?"

"Have you found him?"

"We got an address."

"Anything on his mother?"

"Nothing yet. But we are working on it."

"Okay, let me change my shoes, I'll be down in five." She said grabbing her badge and her sidearm.

"Where do you think you're going Jen?"

"I'll come with you, what did you think?"

"Jen, you can't come with us. You are the director now, not a field agent, it is too dangerous."

"I was quite a good agent Jethro. And it hasn't been for ever since I've last been in the field!"

"Yeah, I know that Jen, but now is not the time to play agent!"

"Like you said, I am the director know. That means I have the right to come with you. Besides, you could need me. Think about it: a man took Manolo away from his mother,he may not be comfortable around you and the boys and Ziva doesn't get along with kids well, especially not when they are crying."

"Fine, but you wear a vest, got it?" Jenny nodded and sent a smile his way. She had gotten what she wanted after all.

* * *

"He brought the director along!" Tony braced his hands against the dashboard. Ziva was driving and he wondered about what he should worry more: that his boss had brought _his _boss along or that Ziva was driving 40 miles per hour faster than allowed.

"Gibbs always says she was a very good agent." McGee piped up from the backseat.

"Still is McGee. And according to my opinion she is an excellent one." Ziva answered as she pulled up in front of Lewis' house right in time for them to see Gibbs helping the director to put her vest on.

"Did he just touch her breast?!"

"No he didn't Tony and I would suggest you take your eyes away from her chest immediately if you want to make it out of here alive."

"DiNozzo, David, McGee, you ready?" Gibbs yelled, making no effort to keep their arrival quite. The director smiled and stood on her toes to whisper something in his ear.

"DiNozzo if you don't stop staring at her and come over here already, I'll..."

"Got it Boss, coming."

"Jen, you will come with me, we take the front door and look for the basement. The rest of you go in through the back door and arrest everyone you see. Got it?"

"Yes boss."

"Okay, come on."

* * *

Jenny and Gibbs searched systematically the ground floor of the house. A few minutes ago they had heard a struggle on the first floor when the others had arrested a friend of Gregory Lewis'. Since then it had been quiet. Finally in the laundry room, they found the door to the basement.

Twilight surrounded them as they opened the door. They could make out a small boy whimpering quietly on a bed below them. Jenny rushed down the stairs, her slightly flatter than usual heels echoing ghostly around the room. The boy hid his head under the thin blanket on the bed, by then he cried hysterically.

"Don't hurt me! I want my mommy, please. I didn't do anything." He choked out between sobs.

"Manolo" Jenny said as she sat down on the bed. "Look at me. We are here to help you, we are getting you out of here."

As he made no effort to look at her, she pulled the blanket slowly away from his head. Big brown eyes stared anxiously back at her.

"Promise?" He asked in a small voice " That I don't have to stay here?"

"I promise." She said solemnly . Jenny smiled down at him and reached her hand out for him to take. He took it hesitantly, but as she gave his hand a light squeeze, he almost flung himself at her. Hugging him to her, she kissed the top of his head while he put his face in the crook of her neck. She stood up, balanced Manolo on her him and went towards Gibbs.

"I'll take him out of here. Meet you at the car." He nodded, a small smile gracing his features. He bent down to her so that Manolo couldn't hear what he whispered to her. "You look sexy with a child."

"Jethro!" she hissed back and shot him and outraged look before she made her way up the stairs. He let his gaze linger on her retreating form.

She did indeed look sexy with a child.

* * *

When Gibbs exited the building a few minutes after Jenny, he found the redhead sitting on the trunk of his car with the little boy still on her lap. Her head was bent down as if she was talking to Manolo whose head rested against her shoulder.

It felt so right, watching her consoling a child. She was a natural. He knew people always said that he had a way with children (he had proofed them right when he'd looked after Zach Tanner) but she was just as good as he.

Images of Shannon and Kelly flooded his mind, his wife holding his daughter when she was about four. Then his mind strained away from them and he saw pictures of another child, one he'd never had the chance to meet. A little girl, the hair as red and curly as her mother's with her father's blue eyes. The child he had never had - his and Jenny's.

It wasn't too late, he knew that, but he had just stumbled back into the familiar pattern of their relationship, of secret kisses and shared beds. True, they had spent the last night together and he intended on spending the next with her too, but they had never talked about kids. Even when they had been in Europe, when they had been together for over two years, longer than his last two marriages counted together, they had never even mentioned children.

He had thought it had been better this way as he had tended to divorce his wives as fast as he had married them. But after she had been gone, he had wished for something that had tied her to him or at least something that had remembered him of her.

"Boss?" He stared in the concerned eyes of Jenny and his team when he was ripped out of his thoughts by DiNozzo. He almost felt the redhead searching her brain for a snotty remark.

"Never took you for the daydreaming kind of guy Jethro" it came mere seconds later.

"Never thought you were that predictable Jen." he answered, wiping a smug grin from her face.

*whack*

"Don't grin like a fool when adults are talking DiNozzo."

"Sorry Boss, couldn't help. Won't happen again."

"I sure hope so DiNozzo, but knowing you it will anyway. You ready to roll?"

"Yeah Boss."

"Then what are you waiting for? We'll meet you at the bull pen."

* * *

Jenny bent down to sit Manolo down on the backseat of the car. She wasn't happy about him being in the back without a booster seat, but it would have to do until they were at the Navy Yard again.

"No stay, don't go! Please, don't leave me alone!" With tears in his eyes he reached for her hand.

"Calm down honey, I am not going anywhere, I'll be right in front of you. You'll be able to see me throughout the entire ride." She cooed at him.

"Don't go. Stay." The little boy insisted so Jenny looked a bit nervous at Jethro.

"It's okay Jen. I guess since we don't have a booster seat with us anyway, he can sit on your lap."

"Did you hear that Manolo? You wanna come sit with me in the front?" The little boy nodded enthusiastically and reached with his arms out for her.

"Up!" he demanded and gave Jenny and Gibbs a toothy smile. Laughing Jenny bent down and picked the little boy up.

"Come here buddy. You're gonna sit with the grown-ups." It felt natural to her, having a little boy situated on her hip and she couldn't help but wonder what would have been if she hadn't left Jethro in Paris six years ago. She dismissed the thought, she could muse about that later, right know her top priority was Manolo.

She smiled gratefully at Gibbs as he opened the door for her and Manolo. He was hiding the face in the crook of her neck once again and she couldn't resist the urge to place a light kiss on the top of his head. He looked up at her and touched her neck and her cheeks with his small hands.

"What's your name?" He asked out of the blue.

"I didn't tell you my name? Well that was certainly impolite. It's Jenny."

"Jenn-y?"

"Kind of. You can say Jen though. He does that too." She pointed at Gibbs.

"And what is his name?" He lowered his voice to a whisper.

"His name is Gibbs." She replied in a voice just as low.

The boy looked up at her. "That is easy. Gibbs." He pointed out.

Suddenly he grinned. "Hey Gibbs." Manolo waved his hands in front of him.

"Hey little man." The ex-marine greeted back.

"Good job honey." Jenny whispered when the boy leaned back against her, his eyes tired. He smiled and put his head on her chest as exhaustion caught up with him and he closed his eyes.

* * *

I hope you like the chapter...


	12. Scapegoats

A/N: Here is the next chapter. I wrote most of it during my German lessons so it's possible that there more idiomatic mistakes in it than usual. I still can't think English and German at the same time... ;)

* * *

Chapter twelve: Scapegoats

Jenny's gaze never left the little boy peacefully sleeping on her lap. When they arrived at the Navy Yard, Gibbs parked his car in his usual parking lot. He looked over at his lover who was completely mesmerized by him. Manolo had Jenny's shirt grasped in his tiny fists and mumbled incoherent words in his sleep. She didn't acknowledge his presence until Gibbs opened the door for her. She got up carefully not to wake the boy, smiling first at him, then at Jethro. He put his arm around her waist and lead her towards the elevator.

"I'll walk you to your desk Jethro." She said softly as they entered the metallic box.

"That could take a while Jen." He smirked as he hit the emergency switch and the elevator came to a sudden halt. He pulled her to him and pressed his lips to hers. Her free arm sneaked around his neck, pulling him impossibly closer -

that was till she became aware of the movements on her hip and she broke the kiss. Gibbs took the chance to lick along her jaw line and close his lips around her earlobe, sucking lightly.

"Jethro!" Jenny hissed, pushing him away from her. "There is a child present. Who is away now by the way."

He smirked, straightened his clothing as did she and ruffled the boy's hair, then kissed her on the forehead. "Consider it our secret buddy." He told him a bit smugly. Manolo merely looked up at him, still to sleepy to understand anything that was going on around him. She smirked too and they spent the rest of the ride in silence.

* * *

After Jenny had gone back to her office, Manolo still with her, Gibbs decided to pay Abby a visit. With a CafPow! in his hand for her and his usual cup of coffee in the other one he stepped out of the elevator. The music was blaring at least twice as loud as normally and he found himself wondering how much he would spend on earplugs in this moment. Probably a month worth of salary.

"Abby!" she shouted fanatically trying to gain the attention of his favourite. She didn't seem to notice him though so he unplugged her boxes and and the lab was filled by a sudden silence. Abby spun around, ready to kill anybody who dared to...

"Gibbs!" she squealed, delight in her voice, her anger forgotten and her narrowed eyes relaxing slowly.

"What have you got Abbs?" Gibbs asked as he handed her the CafPow!.

"I cross checked Shawn's and Lewis' stories and I can say they told you the truth. We already knew that Shawn hadn't kidnapped Manolo, so I checked the surveillance tapes again to check if it was Lewis who abducted him or yet another dummy. You were right by the way, Lewis is our kidnapper. Then I checked if he called Shawn to make him steal the cars but I could proof that he did not. So I think whoever it was wanted to frame Shawn first and as he rattled on Lewis he wanted us to believe that he's not only the kidnapper but also the head of the organisation and the murderer of Kapmann, Morrison, and Johnston jr. I digged into Lewis' life and found out that Metro Police had him in for questioning at the time the call was made. To sum it up, both of your suspects are scapegoats for either one crime or the other."

"Do you have any idea who this head of the organisation might be Abby?"

"Unfortunately not, but I'll keep on looking for them."

"Thanks Abbs, good work." Gibbs kissed her cheek lightly and went to check up on the rest of his team.

* * *

"Boss" McGee hurriedly jumped out of his chair "I've got something!" He grasped the remote control and brought a map of DC on the plasma screen.

"I've wondered the whole time how Márisa found the warehouse with our terrorists in it in the first place as she lives nearly on the other side of DC. I spoke to her friends again and one of them, Susanna Miller, born in Mexico too, told me that the two of them had used to go on their morning runs around the area and that they had often bypassed the warehouse. Then, about three weeks before Manolo was abducted, she fell ill and couldn't work out for a week. Márisa told her she'd kept running but the next time the two of them met, she demanded they'd change their path. She seemed to be afraid of something nevertheless Susanna saw her car parking near the warehouse at least two other times after Márisa had changed her path.

"It seems to me she saw the men around the warehouse and became frightened, maybe she saw the weapons they dealt with, but nonetheless wanted to find out what was going on."

"Good job McGee. Can we narrow down the time she first saw the men further?" Gibbs asked.

"We are working on it." McGee replied but his boss was momentarily distracted by Jenny exiting her office with Manolo in tow. The boy seemed to take to her rather quickly and was chatting away about something he couldn't make out from the distance. As the reached the top of the staircase, he put his hands up in the air and Jenny bent eagerly down to pick him up.

"Tony and Ziva are about to find out if Manolo was with her once, maybe that was how they knew about him and targeted him." Gibbs looked over at DiNozzo who was, like most of the agents in the bull pen, drooling about their director.

*whack*

Ziva snickered. "What the?! I didn't do anything Boss, I..." He was met by Gibbs' icy stare and Ziva giggled again. "It's rude to stare, you know that Tony?"

"I didn't stare at her. Or maybe I did, but just because I can't picture the director as a mom. The boy seems comfortable around her though and so is she around him, obviously. And you must admit she looks se.."

"You better stop rambling here and now DiNozzo or you won't live to stop it anymore!" Gibbs shot him a menacing glare.

"Everything alright Jethro?" The director wanted to know as she entered the bull pen. She went straight to Gibbs's desk and sat down on it, Manolo in her lap, and ignored DiNozzo's curious glares. The moment Gibbs turned around to face her, Ziva received a message from Tony. "A bit overprotective of her, isn't he?" She read and couldn't help but to laugh. "Tony!" she hissed, but his attention had already strained from her to his boss and his boss' boss.

"I have a meeting with the directors of the FBI, the CIA, Homeland Security and a few senators in about half an hour. Do you think you could watch Manolo for me Jethro?" He merely nodded. She knew, and he knew she knew, that he couldn't deny her a damn thing and this was definitely one of the better tasks. Jenny looked down at the little boy who was playing with her hair, tangling her silky red curls around his little fingers.

"Did you hear me sweetheart?" The small boy looked up at the sound of her voice. "You wanna stay here with Jethro until I come back from my meeting? Can you be a good boy for me?" He nodded enthusiastically, eager to please her, but his eyes were clouded with uncertainty.

"Will you come back to me? Not like my Mama?" Jenny's heart broke for the little boy, obviously he had lost all hope to ever see his mother again. She stroked his hair as she nodded and pressed a light kiss to his forehead. She sat him down on the desk and bent down, taking his hands in hers. "Of course I come back hun. I couldn't leave you all on your own, could I?" He nodded more to himself it seemed as to her.

"Hug?" he asked. She smiled, picked him up, and hugged his small frame to her, then she passed him on to Jethro. "See you later" she said, brushing her hand along Jethro's knuckles and kissing Manolo's cheek a last time. Eventually she turned around and followed her security detail to the elevator.

* * *

Jenny was already angry as hell. Not only was she the only woman in the boys' club and all the present politicians had tried to look down her shirt, no, some of them _tried to look up her skirt_ as well. She wished that just for _once_ they would respect her for her achievements. She had pulled NCIS out of the mud after all. She talked about NCIS, its missions, its agents, and its success and all they thought about was her ass in a skirt. And it started to royally piss her off.

The sharp ringing of her mobile interrupted her thoughts. Suddenly very conscious of the gazes lingering on her, she pulled it out of her bag.

"What it is Agent Gibbs?"

* * *

Manolo was calm the first minutes after Jenny had left the squad room. He sat on Gibbs' desk facing the elderly special agent and was happily chatting away about anything and everything. Gibbs took him to the break room about half an hour later, buying himself a cup o f coffee and a hot chocolate for Manolo. They returned to the bull pen and the little boy decided to explore their workplace.

First he went to Tony's desk, snooping into the cabinet behind him and told the agent everything about their trip to the break room. Then he walked over to Ziva but was soon over at Tim's as she was speaking to one of her contacts on the telephone. The youngest agent of Gibbs' team wasn't at his desk at the moment so the child could sneak glances at everything that caught his interest. Gibbs contemplated if he should stop him but decided that as long as Manolo wasn't in any danger to hurt himself, he would let him go on exploring. The boy bent down to open the drawers of McGee's desk, looking genuinely amused as he found a part of the agent's Elf Lord costume. He climbed on the chair behind the desk, quietly sitting there before he began to play with various office supplies. McGee was likely to get a heart attack when he saw the mess on his normally extraordinarily tidy desk. Gibbs observed him as he came across the keyboard, humming to himself as he punched a few keys.

Suddenly the boy began to tremble and curled his hands into fists. He had tears in his eyes and a high-pitched sob escaped his mouth. Gibbs rushed over to him, taking him in his arms instantly. You could see the inside of the interrogation room on the screen. Lewis sat at the table, frustrated slamming his fists down onto it.

Gibbs kneed down in front of Manolo and took his small hands in his. He whispered soothing words to the boy, trying to calm him down. Slowly his sobs turned into hiccups and his tears subsided. "Where is my mom Gibbs?"

"I don't know buddy, but we do everything in our power to make sure we find her, promise."

"I miss her." He was quiet for a few moments before he asked "Can we go see Jen please?" Gibbs had to smile at this. Hearing his nickname for her out of a child's mouth was strangely amusing.

"Jenny isn't here right now, but we can go see her later."

"But she said she would come back later." The little boy started to cry again. By now most of the agents in the squad room stared over at them, especially Tony and Ziva.

"Okay buddy, look at me. Jenny is in a meeting right now, but maybe we can give her a call. What do you think?"

"I wanna see Jen! Please Gibbs, let me see Jen, please."

Gibbs sighed. Manolo wouldn't calm down until he got to see Jenny so he really had no other choice. "Okay buddy, grab you jacket, we are going to pay her a visit."

Tony grinned, amused by his boss' antics. "Didn't think that Gibbs was that much of a softie around kids" he said to no-one in particular as Gibbs strolled over to the elevator, Manolo on his hip.

* * *

"What is it Agent Gibbs?" she asked.

_"Manolo won't stop crying Jen. He wants to see you, we are on our way over now."_

"What do you mean you're on your way over now? I'm in the middle of an important meeting Jethro!" _Shit._ She cursed herself under her breath, she could practically feel the curious glances and knowing smirks. What did she think, calling her best agent by his first name? Half of the other agency heads already thought they were sleeping together. What they were, but that was beside the point.

_"He just wants to see you. Surely you have a minute to spare?"_

"Okay, I'll meet you. Where are you?"

_"On the other side of the door."_

At this moment somebody knocked on the door and Jenny ended the call. The door opened and a blonde secretary announced "Director Shepard, Special Agent Gibbs is here to see you."

"At least he has learnt to knock before he opens a door." She replied wryly as she stood up to meet him halfway to the table. Manolo calmed instantly as he saw Jenny and reached out for her to pick him up. She placed him on her hip letting him hide his face in the crook of her neck again. Soon enough she felt his fingers playing with some loose strands of her hair.

"Are you okay now sweetie?" He nodded hesitantly. "You wanna go back with Gibbs now? I will be back in another one hour and a half and then we can leave for the night, okay?"

"Can't I stay with you? Please Jen-ny?"

"I don't know. I'm not sure if..."

"Please, don't make me go! I don't wanna go! Please!" He begged, fresh tears in his eyes.

"That a problem for you Jen?"

"No, nothing I couldn't handle. See you later?" She asked.

"Sure thing. I'll keep trying to find his mother." He said as he gave her hand a brief squeeze and ruffled Manolo's hair, giving the starring politicians the picture of the perfect little family.

She smiled at his retreating form before she sat down again, Manolo on her lap. She let the boy play with her hair again, content to just listen to his quiet humming for a few precious moments. Then she started talking again, fully aware that by then her auditory had lost any interest in what she was saying - what meant this conference would be over and done with within the next hour and everything would be exactly the way she wanted it to be.

Maybe she should tag a kid along more often.

* * *

_I hope you liked the chapter. PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW! THEY ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED! CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM IS WELLCOMED TOO!_


	13. Playing happy family

A/N: This is probably the longest chapter I will ever write.

* * *

Chapter thirteen: Playing happy family

Gibbs wasn't sure what he should think about Jenny spending such an amount of time with the little boy he had left in her care. Obviously there was already a tight bond between them. Manolo had taken to her rather quickly and she had naturally become his main care giver. It was quite surprising, even for him, especially considering they had known each other for barely eight hours. And yet they were depending on each other. Manolo needed to be loved and Jenny needed someone she could look after and care for. Nonetheless he feared how she would react once they had found his mother and she would have to let him go.

He let those thoughts rest, at least for now, and made a pit stop at his favourite coffee shop before he went back to his team.

"Where is Manolo boss?" DiNozzo asked as soon as Gibbs set food into the bull pen. Gibbs glared at him, his stare icy. "Playing happy family with the director, what did you think?"

Tony looked rather intimidated and decided not to say anything for the time being. Gibbs on the other hand was already thinking about the next problem. Although Manolo seemed to be fine and wore more or less clean clothing he needed new clothes and to be checked up on. Besides they had to find his mother. If she wasn't dead yet, her clock was certainly ticking. Her captors had to know by now that they had rescued Manolo and it was just a matter of time till they would perceive to be a liability.

"Have you found anything?" he asked his team. "We compare the picture of Shawn and Lewis' known associates to the photo of the man ordering Manolo's kidnapping we got from the surveillance tapes when he placed the call to Shawn. We haven't gotten anything so far." McGee answered looking up from the screen of his PC. Gibbs gave them a look to make sure they would go on working, then he walked to the elevator.

"Keep on digging into it, I'm gonna pay Abby a visit."

* * *

Gibbs stopped directly behind Abby with a CafPow! in his hand, waiting for her to acknowledge him. She was dancing to her music, spun around and collided hard with his chest.

"Gibbs" she exclaimed, happily pulling him into a bone-crashing hug. "You scared the hell out of me!"

"You look quite alive though Abs." Gibbs grinned and patted her head. "What have you got for me?"

"I found four people who know both Shawn and Lewis. One of them happens to be in jail, another one is in Russia. The other two are Jacob Miller and Matthew Doyle, both are currently in the States. I sent their pictures up to McGee. He should be able to identify the mysterious man if he is one of them."

"Good job Abbs." Gibbs smiled and turned to go. "Gibbs?" Abby called. "Maybe you could send the director to see me when she returns? I'd love to meet her little shadow."

"I'll do what I can, but she will probably come by tomorrow morning. We have to get him checked up on first."

"We?" Abby asked with a Cheshire grin on her face. "As in the director and you?"

"Abby." Gibbs gave her a stern look, the warning clear in his voice although both of them knew Abby would get away with it. "I'll see you later."

* * *

Jenny was rather content as she stood in the elevator with the other agency heads. The meeting had been over sooner than she had initially thought and most of her the senators were convinced of her ideas what meant they would get much more money. As the doors opened at the lobby of the building Manolo was still playing with her hair, his signature move it seemed. She didn't know what he was so mesmerized by, whether it was the crimson color or the curls that flowed down her back. She didn't care though. As long as she let him play with it, he was calm and happy. And as long he was calm and happy, Jenny was too. She was completely absorbed in a conversation with the director of the FBI, smoothing over the waves of Gibbs' latest turf war. She nodded absentminded to the young man holding the door open for her. She stepped out of the door, heard all the noises and instantly shielded Manolo's head with her hand and her neck.

She looked around, seeing nothing but flash lights and cameras and became suddenly aware of the media surrounding them. _How the hell could she forget the press? This was one of the most important meetings of the year, of course there would be reporters! _Now she had to explain to SecNav why she attended such an important conference with a four-year-old. Manolo giggled and grasped the collar of Jenny's shirt with one hand while he waved to the reporters with the other. He was clearly enjoying the attention he got. Another thought came to the forefront of her mind.

"Manolo honey? Were there any reporters when Gibbs brought you here?"

He nodded. "Yes, they were. But Gibbs didn't seem to like them though." Jenny snorted at that making the boy look up at her with wide eyes. "Never mind sweetie." she said, affectingly touching his nose with her pointer finger.

Suddenly she didn't care about the press as much.

* * *

"You ready to go Jethro?" Jenny asked quietly as not to draw any more attention to them. She could already feel the stares of Gibbs' team members on her back (and probably the ones of half her agents too for that matter). He nodded and smiled briefly at her, gathered his things and grabbed his jacket, then he proceed to walk her to the elevator, his hand on the small of her back. Manolo clung to her hand, visibly not wanting to lose any sort of physical contact he had to her.

"Anybody told you you could leave DiNozzo?" Gibbs shouted without even looking at his senior field agent.

"How the hell does he do that?" Tony murmured lowly before he answered louder "Er, no Boss, I thought... You and the director are leaving so..."

"Don't think DiNozzo! Finish your reports, then go home. I want them on my desk first thing tomorrow morning. Clear?"

"Crystal Boss! Getting back to work now!"

* * *

The drive to the mall was spent in a comfortable silence. Manolo sat on Jenny's lap once more as the didn't have a booster seat yet. He slept peacefully while the adults listened to the radio playing softly in the background. When they arrived at the mall they headed to the clothing department first.

"Jen you do realize that there are only fancy, high-end stores around?" Gibbs asked carefully, not wanting to piss her off. Jenny grinned at him, her expression amused. "Ten out of ten for observation. We are now going to analyze your findings." She replied ironically. He merely lifted an eyebrow at her. "Relax Jethro. That's where I go shopping usually. I know the stores, I know the owners. Some of them have kids too so they have a few really cute pieces for children around his age."

"That will cost you a small fortune Jen" he pointed out, recognizing the sign for her growing attachment to the boy.

"I know. It doesn't matter though. I have just Heather to spoil and even she refuses to let me pay for some of her things saying she 'values her independence too much'" She used her fingers to put the quotation marks in the air. "She lets me treat her for lunch once in a while but beside that I only buy her a present for her birthday and Christmas."

He nodded slowly. "If you think so. I just don't want him to be harassed because he wears branded clothing only."

"Jeez, Jethro, do you really think he or any other kid his age for that matter knows the difference between branded and not branded clothing?" He didn't see the logic in asking her why she was going to buy him branded clothing then. After all he had to pick his battles and this one was definitely not worth it. If it made her happy then be it.

He smiled at her and laced his fingers into hers.

* * *

Almost two hours later, they had finally bought several new outfits, a few toys, a teddy bear and a booster seat for Manolo. They had ordered pizza on their way home and were now sitting in front of the fireplace in Jenny's living room. Manolo was sitting in-between the two adults, getting sleepier by the minute. Before he could actually fell asleep on one of them, Jenny decided it was time for bed now. Thank god it wasn't much of a struggle. They let him show them how well he could brush his teeth, then they changed them into his pyjamas. Jenny's breath caught in her throat as Jethro pulled the boy's t-shirt over his head and they saw the angry bruises all over his torso.

"What did this son of a bitch do to him?" she hissed angrily.

"Calm down Jen, we have him checked up on by Ducky first thing in the morning." She nodded curtly, still to angry to actually speak. She calmed down slowly as she sat down with Manolo, popped up against the headboard of the bed in her spare bedroom. Jenny watched Jethro while she listened to him reading the boy his bedtime story. She couldn't help but wonder if that was what it would have been like if she hadn't left him in Paris six years ago. Would she have been a stay-at-home-mom or would she have accomplished her career goals nevertheless? She somehow knew that they would have made it work.

She smiled softly at the little boy who had fallen asleep against her chest. She moved carefully to not wake him up, tucked him in and pressed a kiss to his forehead. Jethro's hands found their way into hers as he encircled her small waist with his arms from behind. He placed feather light kisses all over her neck and along her jaw line, enjoying the quiet moans he drew from her. "Jethro" she said a little breathlessly as she let her head rest against his shoulder to give him better access to her neck.

"Let's move to the bedroom"

* * *

"Jen?" He murmured while he came down from her high. "Yeah?" she mumbled back in a post-coital laziness.

"We should probably put a little clothing on"

"Why's that?" she asked, obviously confused. "There's a little boy in your spare bedroom down the hall and I don't want him to get an early sex-education when her storms into our room tomorrow morning looking for you and finds us together in bed - completely naked."

"Gee, I hate it when you are right and I have to move because of it." she grumbled, the frown on her face he found adorable. He bent down and kissed it away before he got up and threw a tee and a pair of panties at her. She laughed, enjoyed observing him while he change into a pair of sweats and a t-shirt on his own.

They laid in bed for a while, legs tangled, arms around each other, not moving, not talking, just appreciating the closure and the familiarity. He kissed the crown of her head lovingly. "Go to sleep Jen" he murmured quietly. She let her head rest on his chest and pressed a kiss to his throat, letting the steady sound of his heartbeat lull her to sleep.

* * *

The next morning Jenny woke up to a softly spoken conversation next to her. She opened her eyes slowly, letting them adjust to the dim light of the lamp on her bedside table. She really hated the early month of the year. It was 06.15 already and there wasn't even the slightest hint of sunlight outside of her bedroom window. She turned her head and smiled brightly at the scene in front of her. Manolo laid sprawled out on his stomach on Jethro's chest, tugging at the special agent's silver hair, making it stick in all directions. The boy grinned as he told Gibbs about last night's dreams and Jenny was instantly glad he hadn't had a nightmare. However she held her breath as he began talking about his mother in an oddly detached way, without showing any emotion at all. She reached out with her hand, caressing the side of his face. "Manolo honey, don't you miss your mom?"

He looked at her, maybe confused for a moment, she couldn't really tell. "My mom didn't come when I was with the scary man even if I called for her as loud as I could. You came." He stated, putting his small hand to her cheek affectionately.

Jenny covered his hand with hers, squeezing his fingers softly. "Maybe she wanted to, but couldn't come?" She asked, not wanting the boy to think his mother had abandoned him.

"She never came to help me when Carlo punched me. My and Carlo's mom just went on talking." Gibbs looked at Jenny. He could see she didn't know what to think and quite frankly he didn't know either. They had thought the bruises on Manolo's torso were an effect of his abduction, not of a beating he had obviously taken.

"Did she hit you?" Jenny asked carefully. To her relief he shook his head. "The others were just always more important. She never came when I called for her." His voice trembled, a few tears rolled down his cheek. Jenny looked at Jethro, having tears in her eyes as well as she knew how Manolo felt. Gibbs nodded, he would have his team digging into it. She put her arm around the two of them and wishing she and Jethro could do to console him.

* * *

They arrived at work shortly after half past seven when the team sat already at their desks. Gibbs had made them pancakes and bacon for breakfast, not wanting the little boy to adopt their bad habit of skipping breakfast in favor of coffee.

After he was sure that Jenny and Manolo were safely out of earshot he asked "What have you got?"

"McGoo here was able to identify our mystery caller as Matthew Doyle. He was born in Tennessee in 1974. Parents died in a car crash six years ago, he hasn't got any siblings. His only living relative is his aunt which he hasn't had any contact with for the last five years. He's an Ex-Marine, dishonorable discharged in 2000, so he matches our profile. Later on he worked for several local newspapers but was fired every time they found out about his crazy obsession for psychopathsand crimes." DiNozzo reported.

"Good job. Go take him in for questioning."

"And there we come to the fun part boss. We don't know anything about his current whereabouts, but we are working on finding him."

"Okay, Ziva, McGee, you two go on with whatever you are doing to find him. DiNozzo, you look into Márisa's and Manolo's medical files, find out if there is anything suspicious."

"What about you Boss?" DiNozzo asked before he could stop himself.

"I and the director are taking Manolo down to Ducky to get him checked up on. Any questions?"

"No boss.?"

*whack*

"Then don't ask DiNozzo!"

* * *

He met up with Jenny and Manolo in Autopsy where the kind doctor had already charmed his way into the little boy's heart. Like always Manolo sat on Jenny's lap, shirtless this time, while Ducky was examining his bruises. He didn't seem to be afraid of the doctor and only flinched a little when the ME cleaned his wounds. Jenny squeezed his hands a bit tighter and pecked his head. When Ducky was done, she helped him to put his shirt back on while Gibbs was briefed on Ducky's findings.

"Most of the bruises are recent ones, but there are a few older ones that are dated back to before he was abducted. I think they were caused by kids a few years older than him, ten-year-olds maybe. The bruises are too small to be caused by an abusive parent. There are kids about eight to ten years old who are recruited by the local gangs beating up younger children to proof themselves worthy. It's highly likely that he was just at the wrong place at the wrong time." The Scottish doctor ended his monologue and Jethro breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thanks Duck. Anything Jen and I can do?" Ducky smiled knowingly at the use of 'Jen and I' but knew better than to comment on it. "Just keep his wounds clear and change the dresses once in a while to make sure they are healing nicely."

Gibbs looked over at Manolo and Jenny and saw they were ready to go. "Will do Duck. See you later." Ducky nodded, kissed Jenny on the cheek and shook Manolo's hand.

"I think I will see you again?" he asked him and the little boy nodded enthusiastically. Jenny smiled and scooped him up, then she followed Gibbs to the elevator to introduce Manolo to Abby.

* * *

The bubbly Goth was ecstatic when she met 'the director's little shadow' as she put it. Gibbs was sure she was high on caffeine and if it wasn't that, he was sure it was only gravity that held her in place, otherwise she would have been over the moon by then, literally.

Abby was bouncing up and down, her black pigtailsflying around her head. Manolo shrieked back the moment he saw her and pressed himself further into Jenny's torso. Abby didn't seem to notice though as she simply enveloped both of them into a bone-crashing hug. "Abby let them breathe!" Gibbs said seeing Jenny's skin was paler than usual.

Abby pulled back instantly. Manolo trembled in Jenny's arms and she had a hard time calming him down enough to get him to look at the forensic scientist. She ruffled his hair, making him look up at her. "Manolo sweetie, this is Abby, a good friend of Gibbs and mine."

Abby beamed at him, waving enthusiastically. The boy looked to Jenny and Gibbs seeking insurance before he smiled back at her shyly. He watched her for a few moments, then he laid his head back on Jen's shoulder.

"That's soooo sweeeet! Like the cutest thing in NICS' history." Abby squealed. "Can I take a photo, please? Just one, director?" Jenny looked a little self-consciously and was about to shake her head in the negative as she became aware of Abby's disappointed frown. _One picture couldn't possible hurt, could it?_

"Okay, go on then Abby. Manolo hun, smile at Abby please?" Manolo smiled at her and the lab rat took her photo. She was about to put her camera back in place when she saw out of the corner of her eye Manolo playing with Jenny's hair and the redhead kissing his nose softly. She took a second photo, unnoticed by the pair, but was rewarded with a genuine smile from Gibbs.

* * *

When Márisa woke up, the room was still dark. It didn't mean much though as even in the early afternoon the room was only dimly lit. She had a fever, her limbs hurt, her eyes hurt, her head hurt. All in all, it was a bad day.

She knew the days when the bad turned into the worst and threatened to overwhelm her. Those where the days she couldn't breathe because of the memories that knocked the air out of her. Still.

At first she thought about the happier times she had spent with her boy's father, before he had left her for his fiancée he had claimed he'd loved. Sometimes she looked at her son and couldn't help but seeing his father. She felt weirdly detached then, couldn't bring herself to actually help him when he called for her. The confused part of her thinking it was his father taking the beating.

Her doctor had told her she had a mental decease. He'd given her meds to help her but she hadn't been taking them for a while now. It was getting to her slowly. The fear constantly surrounding her turned into panic, she anticipated the worst. Call it a gut feeling but she just _knew_ something was going to happen soon.

She had to get out of her cell. The small room, the memories of what she had done, what she had witnessed, haunted her and were about to catch up with her. It was suffocating. She hadn't slept for almost a week, she couldn't stand the thought of being vulnerable, assailable.

Her thoughts jumped. She would try to make a run for it the next time they would come to feed her. She had no plan, no idea what to do but she knew she had only one chance. _She would just run._

She heard the noises on the other side of the door as they came. Márisa pushed herself up against the wall, made her way towards the door slowly, on weak legs. Her muscles seemed to burn, screamed at her to just _give the hell up_. She wasn't sure she would even make it out of her cell, but she wouldn't be going down without a fight. She had been passive long enough.

The door opened and she could make out the frames of two men against the light in the hallway. She didn't think anymore. She stumbled out of her cell, tried to run as fast as possible.

_"Shoot her."_ A cold, hard voice ordered behind her. Emotionless.

She heard the sound of a gun being fired and knew _these were her last seconds_. She thought about Manolo, wishing she'd been the caring mother he deserved, prayed he was luckier than her and made it out of this hell hole alive. For the first time in a long time she felt happy, peaceful. She let herself love her son, with all her being, for her last seconds.

She was dead before her body hit the floor.

* * *

A/N: _Maybe I should explain a few things._

_1. As you may have noticed, this is a quite Jenny-centered story. She is my favourite character, but for your sake, I will try to keep it at bay in the next chapters._

_2. We talked about gangs during our social studies lessons and our teacher told us there are gangs who recruit eight to ten-year-olds. I think this is idiotic, they are children and shouldn't be under that kind of pressure, but it was quite useful for this story. I don't know if they beat up younger kids though or if there are gangs like these in the States._

_3. Yeah, it is possible that career-driven people/females change their lives from one day to another to care for a child. I've seen it._

_As always thanks a lot for reading and please leave a review._


	14. Finding Matthew Doyle

A/N: Thanks a lot for the review!

* * *

Chapter fourteen: Finding Matthew Doyle

Jenny was only mildly surprised when she realised that Gibbs didn't go to the bull pen to get an update from his team right away as she had expected and instead followed her to her office. She nodded at her ever loyal assistant and gave the young woman a small smile as response to her curious stare. By now Cynthia Summers was used to Agent Gibbs spending much more time with Director Shepard than he ever had spent with Tom Morrow. If she had to make a guess she would say that it was because of their new director's hair colour, but she certainly wouldn't voice this opinion to either party. Instead she was silent and observant and from time to time she spent a fair amount of money on Very Special Agent Tony DiNozzo's betting pool.

Gibbs closed the door softly for a change, not wanting to startle the boy who was squirming in the arms of his favourite red-head. "Cat stole your tongue Jethro?" said red-head asked with a wicked grin grazing her beautiful features and he knew he had been caught staring.

He grinned at her for the better part of the following ten seconds before he looked her dead in the eye and said "Have a seat Jen, we have to talk."

She looked at him, now it was her part to be speechless. "Excuse me Jethro, but until a few seconds ago I thought this was my office." She remarked, a dangerous glint in her eyes. He gave her his best boyish smirk. "Well, have a seat anyway." He grinned cheekily as she gasped, not sure if she should be amused or affronted, but did what he _asked_ nevertheless.

"You have to call social services Jen, you know that. The sooner the better." She shot a look at Manolo. _Never get personally involved in a case_ had flown out of the window the moment she had seen the boy. She was attached to him, and badly at this, whether or not it had only been twenty-four hours since they had met. She couldn't bear the thought of turning him over to social services.

"Jen?" She heard Gibbs calling her name softly. "You think they will let him stay with me?" she asked, her insecurity only visible in the depths of her eyes. "They let you keep Zach after all."

He nodded, court, brief, non-committal. Then he shrugged. "Not sure, but it's worth a try." He shot a sideways glance over to the boy, then at his lover next to him. He knew she was attached to Manolo and that she knew it, but _hell_ he was too.

"Ask a few of your friends further up the latter, let them put in a good word for you." She nodded, her confidence returning to her slowly. She kissed his cheek lightly, letting her lips linger as she took his hand in hers. She smiled, first at Jethro, then at Manolo, before she went over to her desk and pressed a button on her intercom.

"Cynthia, get a hold of social services for me please."

* * *

After he had listened to Jenny making an appointment with Social Services for later that day, Gibbs retreated to the bull pen to check up on his team. "What have we got?" He stared at each member of his team intentionally. As always it was his senior filed agent who spoke first.

"I spoke to Doyle's aunt a second time, asked her if she knew where her nephew could be headed, but she didn't have any idea. Then I showed her photos of Shawn and Lewis and a few of his other terrorist buddies, but she didn't recognize them either. She gave me a few names of Marines who Doyle had been friends with back in the day and guess how surprised I was when Dean Morrison, our first victim, was one of them. Now I'm checking the other names, look if I can find anything."

"Good job DiNozzo. Ziva?"

"I watched our interview with Sanders again. He said that Morrison and Kapmann were only Johnston's back-up team and supposed to stay inside the surveillance van. Maybe Doyle saw Morrison who he knew was a Marine on active duty and concluded that they were about to burst his business. He decided to kill them one by one, Morrison first so we couldn't question him and he couldn't rattle on Doyle. Because of his obsessions with psychopaths he staged the bodies and let us think we look for a sick sadistic bastard of a serial killer. He blackmailed Márisa 'cause he got suspicious as she was too often too near the warehouse they operated from. I asked Ducky, he too thinks that's a likely scenario."

Gibbs nodded at her, a silent praise, and turned to McGee.

"I checked his electronic devices. It is almost as if Doyle hasn't existed for the last five years. He hasn't used his credit cards, he doesn't have a cell phone I could track, and the last address we know is six years old, he still lived on base at the time. I scanned the surveillance tapes from the area around the warehouse and checked them with the videos from the cameras near the internet cafés to find him or maybe his car, but there hasn't been anything suspicious yet. Probably they changed cars somewhere along the way. I'm checking now if Doyle is the driver of one of the cars either around the cafés or the warehouse but so far I haven't had any luck. Perhaps Abby can help me if she has nothing else to do. Either way I keep looking."

"Okay, McGee you go on scanning the videos of the area around the warehouse. David, DiNozzo, you go through the videos from the internet cafés." Gibbs took his badge and his gun out of the drawer under his desk, then he grabbed his jacket. "Going for coffee."

* * *

Across the town, the dull noise of a body dropping to the ground echoed through a gloomy hallway. Two men watched as the blood of the dead woman slowly pooled on the floor around her.

"Get one or two of your friends down here to help you. You wrap the body in a bag, throw her into the Potomac river and leave no evidence behind, understood? Then you clean up here." The cold, detached voice of his boss sent a shiver down his spine. The shooter nodded, clearly intimidated, his eyes drawn to the hard, dead stare of his victim. He almost _ran_ away from the scene, from the eyes of the woman he had just shot, knowing the would haunt him.

Doyle looked around, a sick smirk playing on his lips. He'd successfully cut all ties that lead to him, the next round of the game could begin -

Or so he thought.

* * *

Gibbs came back to the Navy Yard, a tray with three paper cups in his hand. Two full of coffee for him and the director and one with hot chocolate for the boy playing in her office.

"Agent Gibbs!" Micheal the front guard shouted. Gibbs turned around and went over to the other man's desk. The blonde woman in front of it gave him a flirtatious smile. "Elizabeth Smith, Social Services. I have an appointment with Director Jennifer Shepard."

The woman grasped his hand, shook it, and saw no need to let go of it again. Gibbs forced a gruff smile and pulled his hand back. He looked at Micheal and nodded briskly. "I wanted to go up to her office anyway, I can accompany you Mrs Smith."

She laughed, it had more of a high-pitched squeal than of an actual laugh, and grabbed his arm, dragging him with her to the elevator. Gibbs shot a look at the front guard, his stare icy.

"You owe me" Mike mouthed with a big grin and pointed at the blonde on his arm.

This time the stare was murderous.

* * *

"She in?" Gibbs asked as he stopped in front of Cynthia's desk, for the first and probably last time of his life. Cynthia nodded, her attention drawn to the blonde behind the Special Agent. He opened the door to her office forcefully, his gaze automatically on Jenny who sat with Manolo on her lap at her desk doing paperwork.

"Jen" he greeted casually.

"Jethro" she greeted back, smiling. He came towards her desk and put the tray on it, taking his coffee out of it. "Manolo sweetie" she nudged his head with her nose. "Gibbs brought hot chocolate for you." The boy grinned his toothy grin and took his cup, mimicking her motions as she sipped on hers.

"Jen, this is Ms Elizabeth Smith, she is with Social Services." he pointed at the blonde who had a sour look on her face after having observed the dynamic between Jenny, Manolo, and Gibbs.

"Ms Smith" Jenny stood up, Manolo still clinging to her, and made her way over to the other woman.

"Director Shepard." Smith acknowledged and took her extended hand. "What is the matter? I take it this is Manuel Sanchez?"

"Yes, he is, he goes by Manolo though." Jenny answered, her gaze lingering on the boy on her hip.

"Okay Manolo, do you want to come with me? We will find a nice family for you until NCIS finds your mother."

"Are Jen and Gibbs coming too?" The boy asked, his hold on Jenny's shirt tightening ever so slightly.

The social worker shook her head, but still smiled brightly at the child in front of her. "No, but there will be lots of other nice people, I'm sure."

"Then I don't wanna come. I wanna stay with Jen and Gibbs." He shrugged, putting his head on the red-head's shoulder.

"Manolo, I don't think you understand..." Smith began, but was interrupted by Jenny. "That's what I wanted to talk about. Manolo is a bit attached to me, he feels save and even more importantly _is _safe with me. We rescued him only yesterday, I don't think it would do him any good if he had to stay with someone else."

"Ma'am, I understand you concern, but it just isn't possible that..."

"Then make it possible." Gibbs said from behind her. "I don't think you understand who you are talking to. One call from her and she will have custody for him anyways." He pointed at Jenny.

"I am more worried about Manolo" the blonde remarked, her lips a thin line.

"And we appreciate that Ms Smith, but in this case I can assure it's for the best." Jenny said. "Manolo doesn't want to leave and I'll do everything to protect him and help him till we find his mother."

Smith looked at the boy, his small frame pressed into Jenny's upper body as if his life depended on it. She sighed. "Okay then, I will see what I can do. However I want to check up on you tomorrow morning."

The red-head nodded. "Thank you. You hear that honey?" Manolo looked up at her. She smiled and dropped a kiss to the top of his head. "You're staying with us."

* * *

"Tony -"

"Yeah McProbitionous?"

"Get Gibbs down here, I think I got something!"

"Any other wishes while I'm at it ElfLord? Maybe I should get the director too? Why don't you go? Are you too much of a McScarypants?"

"Tony just for once be the Senior Field Agent you always claim you are and get them down here!"

"Are you afraid Tony? Maybe I go for you if you are too scared." Ziva added grinning from her desk.

"No need for you two add your two pennies to this conversation Ziva. I'll go." Still grumpy Tony stood up and went to the staircase.

"Why would he say that McGee? I didn't give him any money..."

"It's just a saying Ziva. You know when someone adds a comment... You know what, never mind. Gee Tony, hurry up a bit!" he heard McGee shouting below him. Now further annoyed he sent a glare to the occupants of the bull pen but took two stairs a time nevertheless. Seeing that Cynthia wasn't at her desk, he strolled through the outer office, stormed into the director's Gibbs-fashioned, and -  
stopped dead in his tracks.

In the middle of the room stood his two bosses in a rather _intimate_ position. DiNozzo couldn't help but grin. That was all the confirmation he needed to win a fairly large amount of money from his betting pool. Gibbs facing the director, his hand on her cheek, the child in-between them...

"Special Agent DiNozzo? Are you alright?" Confused he focused on the persons standing inside the office again - now with much more space between them.

"Yes ma'am. McGee thinks he might have found something and requested your presence boss." He said with a cheeky grin. "Yours too Director."

The red-head nodded, put Manolo on the ground and took his hand. "Come on honey, we'll have a look at what Tim has found."

*whack*

"Don't even think about using this for one of your stupid pools."

"Boss I would never..." Tony began, a smirk still on his face.

*whack*

"Okay, okay, so maybe I would."

* * *

"So McGee, what have you found?" Gibbs asked as he went to his desk, the director with kid next to him, a simpering Tony right behind him.

"I checked all the surveillance tapes from the area around the warehouse for cars driven by Doyle or one of the other terrorists. Then I checked the cars and the license plates and found out all of them were stolen on a Tuesday night from September to December 2005 _(keep in mind it's 2006 :D)._ Every time the same MO was used. I assumed they stole about a car a week, but they actually used only ten of them so I thought maybe they'd sold the other ones. I called the owners of stores we know sell stolen cars and sent them the photos of members of the cell. One of them recognized two of the terrorists, unfortunately not Doyle, but he was able to give us the number of the bank account they used. I traced the money and saw that quite a bit was withdrawn recently so I expect them to try to leave the country. I put a BOLO out on them and put them on the no-fly list."

"That's good McGee but I don't understand why you needed to call me down to tell me that." He shot the agent a hard stare.

McGee gulped. "Yeah, right, here's the thing. The owner of the place to which they sold the cars told me I wasn't the first one to ask about the cars and the men who sold them to him. I wanted to know who wanted information on them before me so he sent me a few pictures from the surveillance tapes." He put the photos on the screen."Those are Morrison and Kapmann, they were there."

Gibbs nodded. "Good job McGee. I wonder whether Sanders knew about this particular involvement of theirs in his mission or if they were snooping around on their own."

"Only one way to find out Boss." Tony said cheerfully in a sing-song voice. "Ziva and I will go and bring him in for questioning." He stood up, ready to grab his badge and gun.

"That won't be necessary." Gibbs grinned. "You ready for dinner with the parents Jen?"

* * *

A/N: I hope you like the conclusion of this one. It was a bit more crime-centric than the last (is crime-centric even a word?), but I think that was necessary. Please let me know what you think!


	15. Dinner with the parents

A/N: Thanks to those who put this story on alert or favoured (?) it. I guess I haven't acknowledged you so for. So thank you. It's kinda nice considering the lack of reviews ;D.

* * *

Chapter fifteen: Dinner with the parents

_"That won't be necessary" Gibbs grinned "You ready for dinner with the parents Jen?"_

She was shell-shocked, dumbfounded. He couldn't be serious, could he? "Jethro, I haven't had any contact with my mother for the better part of the last ten years. Don't you think this will look suspicious? You catch a case involving Eric and we come over for dinner?"

"I just need a little bit of time Jen. You will distract your mother, Heather, and Sanders and I will ask him a few questions. He won't concentrate on answering so he will be honest and you can lose up your tense relationship with your mother a bit. Plus you'll get to see Heather."

"So basically you're telling me you have it all planned out?" She snapped, infuriated.

"No, I just try to explain the advantages of my plan to you." He deadpanned.

"Leroy Jethro Gibbs, don't you dare to get sarcastic with me!" She heard Tony snickering behind her. "You think this is funny Special Agent DiNozzo?" she asked without turning around. "Maybe you would find looking for a new job funny too?"

"No ma'am, I'm fine. Won't happen again."

"That's nice to know. What about Manolo Jethro? I don't thinks he is comfortable with staying with neither Noemi nor your team."

"That's simple. You take him with us. He'll even do your job for you and distract your family." She glared at him, her stare icy, and he began to wonder if maybe he had overstepped the mark when he had bullied her into this 'family dinner night' with people she had clearly tried to avoid for the last years.

"_Fine_" she said, her voice as cold as her glare. "I'll give Heather a call, then I'll ring my mother, maybe we are on speaking terms again."

He nodded, his usual half-smile tugging on his lips and she knew this was as close to a 'Thank you' as she was going to get.

* * *

_One down, one more to go_ she thought as she ended the call. Talking to Heather was the easy part. Her sister was carefree, funny kind, all in all really amicable, and always enjoyed spending extra time with her older sister, especially if that meant she could try to break the ice between Jenny and their mother. Heather had tried for years to include Jenny in their family traditions, but the red-head was still bitter over her father's death and refused to take part in anything that had to do with the people she blamed for his suicide.

Instead they had their own traditions, just the two of them, like spending Boxing Day and Black Friday together. So naturally when Jenny had called her to say she would come by for dinner and she'd bring some company too, Heather had been over the moon.

She had briefly contemplated if she should make Heather do the honors of telling their mother, but had decided it would be better if she called herself.

So there she sat, cell phone in her hand, her thumb hovering over the buttons. She cast a glance at Manolo sleeping on her couch, half wishing he would wake up so she could postpone calling her mother just another few minutes. Sighing she dialled the semi-familiar number and wondered when the last time she had called had been.

_"Anne Sanders?"_ she heard the alto voice of her mother on the other end of the line.

"Mom, it's Jenny, I..."

_"Jenny darling, how are you? I saw you on TV last week."_

"I'm fine thanks mom. Look, I know we haven't spoken in a long time, but I wanted to ask if I can come by for dinner tonight?" She didn't know if she should feel self-conscious, if it was right that she was afraid of being rejected. In the end it was her who had refused to maintain contact, hadn't she?

_"Yeah, I'd love to have you around. You know you are always welcome, don't you?" _She wasn't sure if it was a mother's intuition but her mother somehow always seemed to know what she was thinking about.

"I guess I do. Listen, I'd like to bring some company, there are a few people I want you to meet."

_"You have a boyfriend Jennifer?" _Well what was Gibbs to her? Her boyfriend, her lover, her partner?

"Sort of."

_"Anyways, drag him along. I'd love to meet him."_ Jenny could practically hear the smile in her mother's voice. It had been a long time since they had just talked, not argued and she had to admit she had missed their conversations.

"Will do. I'll see you tonight. We'll be there at eight. Bye mom."

_"Bye Jenny, see you."_

She shot a second look to the sleeping form on the other end of her office. A little boy was certainly not what her mother expected.

* * *

_On floor below at the bull pen_

"Boss, boss, I think I got something!"

"Don't choke on it McGeek. We wouldn't want you to get killed in the line of duty while you're sitting at your desk Elf Lord, would we?"

*whack*

"And we wouldn't want you to get killed because of a headslap, would we DiNozzo?"

"No Boss. Getting back to work now."

"What have you got McGee?"

"The security guards at Dulles International Airport gave me a call. They have picked up two of the guys I set on the No-Fly list. They were about to buy tickets to London Heathrow."

"Ring them back McGee. Tell them two NCIS agents are going to come to pick them up and that they shall continue observing the ticket offices."

"On it Boss."

"Ziva, DiNozzo, grab your gear, you're going to Dulles and pick them up. McGee, when you're done you go down to Abby's. I want the two of you to observe the cell's bank account. The second any transactions are made, I want to know. And McGee-" he tossed a few coins at the younger agent "bring Abby a CafPow! for me."

McGee nodded and began to tip away feverly on his keyboard again while Tony and Ziva ran to the elevator.

_Forty-five minutes later,_ Tony and Ziva came back with two guys each as big as the two agents together. Tony looked quite amused, his usual sunglasses on his nose, a grin grazing his features. A sure sign Ziva was annoyed. The Israeli assassin looked like she was ready to kill someone with the first office supply she could get her hands on.

"I swear Gibbs, they are like stupid and more stupid-"

"I think you mean Dumb and Dumber Zee" Tony sat, laughter evident in his voice.

"Oh, shut the hell up! All three of you!" She shouted, the volume of her voice increasing and fixing all of them with a menacing stare. Yep, clearly annoyed then.

"They are dummies Gibbs, they don't know anything. You can't even classify them as scapegoats, 'cause they weren't even framed, they did this all on their own! A horse is more intelligent than they are, hell I bet even Tony is..."

"Hey! What does that mean! I am pretty smart, don't you think boss?" He looked to Gibbs, but Ziva was already talking again before Gibbs had even the chance to say something.

"Nothing, I just wonder why they have lots of muscles if they don't have the brains to use them? They don't know a thing about fighting, they are idiots!"

"But that has nothing to do with me Zee-vah, I can..."

"Shut up!" Gibbs said dangerously lowly. "Both of you!" He added as Tony had already opened his mouth to make a comment. "Take them to interrogation, let them stew for a while. There is at least the possibility they know something, maybe they are more intelligent than we give them credit for. Wait a few hours, then you can question them."

"Yeah boss, we'll do right that, right away. We won't torture them or kill them like we threatened to do when we were in the care, no matter how much they annoy us, won't we Ziva?" Tony said smirking.

"Are you enjoying this Tony? I can whip this grin from your face with my necklace. I don't understand why you have all those stupid rules, let alone follow them. They are suspects!" Ziva asked, clearly frustrated.

"That's the point Zee, they are suspects, not criminals."

"Same difference. Most of them turn out to be criminals anyway." She said defiantly.

*whack* (2x)

"Hey, stop it NOW! You're bickering like children. Just do your jobs and shut the hell up!" Gibbs yelled, leaving Tony and Ziva shell-shocked. "I'm going to see Abby. When I come back, you'll better be working, clear?"

"Crystal boss!"

He turned around, just hoping they wouldn't continue their bickering where he'd stopped them.

* * *

"Gibbs, Gibbs, Gibbs, I haven't seen you in - like ages!" The bubbly Goth exclaimed as soon as he entered her lab.

"Hey Abbs" Gibbs kissed her cheek after she had stopped enveloping him in one of her usual breath-taking hugs. "I've seen you only yesterday!"

"Yeah, but then your eyes were on our lovely director _the whole time_" She pouted.

"And yours were on Manolo." He said causing her to frown. "Abbs, have there been any transactions made?"

"I'm sorry o great one, but there hasn't been _anything_. Nevertheless Timmy and I could trace back the money to several car shops. A few of the owners didn't even know they brought stolen cars as the men provided them with faked papers. We asked them how much they had paid for the cars and added the prizes up. The amount of money on the bank account is far too big. You wanna go on Timmy? I'm willing to share the honors.

"Ab-by" Gibbs grumbled impatiently.

"Okay, okay, but I really think you should let McGee explain this _el jefe_ as he was the one who found it"

"_Fine_. McGee what have you found out?" Gibbs growled.

"Ah, okay Boss. So I, ah, called the branches of the bank near the warehouse and asked if the terrorists had paid in cash on the account and when they'd paid it in. Then I checked if the dates of the payments matched the days of the robberies but they didn't.

"And then my silver-haired fox" Abby continued "he showed his real genius. Timmy here discovered the obvious."

"Thanks Abby, but I am sure everybody..."

"Hey!" Gibbs shouted, his patience wearing thin. Why did all of his agents wanted to annoy the hell out of him that day? "What - have - you - found?" He asked menacingly stressing each syllable.

"Right Boss, focus. Well I checked if the dates matched the dates of the arms deals. They didn't either but every time, two weeks after weapons had been stolen from Army or Marine Bases, a large amount of money was paid in. The payments ended five days before Dean Morrison was found dead."

"Good joy. If you find anything else, call me. Otherwise call it a day at six PM. There isn't much we can do anyways."

"Thanks boss."

"Gibbs, do you want to come with us tonight? We are going for drinks, just Tony, Ziva, Timmy, and I, there is this new place down the street we wanted to try."

"Sorry Abbs, I already have plans for the evening."

"Do they include the usual Basement, Boat, Bourbon or by any chance the director and the little one?" Abby asked, grinning widely.

"Her parents Abbs" He answered, deadly serious and went to the elevator.

"He wasn't serious, was he Timmy?"

* * *

He arrived at Jenny's home at quarter to seven to give her enough time to do whatever she did to prepare herself for dinner with her mother and her step-father. He had offered to watch Manolo for her who she had dressed in jeans and a blue polo shirt similar to those he wore at work which she claimed looked adorable on the little boy. So there he sat on Jenny's bed with Manolo next to him reading the boy stories while he listened to the water running in the bathroom and tried not to think about Jenny being in there under the shower naked. _Alone._

The water stopped and twenty minutes later she emerged from the bathroom, looking stunning. Her make-up was natural, it accentuated her eyes and her dress was casual as well as classic and formal. She wore hardly any jewelery besides a pair of emerald ear-rings he'd given her back in Paris. She pressed a chaste kiss to his cheek and picked Manolo up from the bed.

"Let's go" she smiled at him. "Before I can change my mind" she added lowly, almost as an afterthought.

* * *

They stood at her mother's front porch and he could practically feel the nervousness radiating in waves from her. They'd rung the doorbell moments ago and she kept running her slightly shaking hands over Manolo's back soothingly. He threw his arm around her shoulder to soothe _her_ and pulled her and the child in her arms into him, giving her strength. The door opened and an elderly woman who could be Jenny in twenty years came out of the house. The redhead next to him was her mother's spitting image, everything but the eyes were the same, down to the way the two women held themselves. He figured she got her eyes from her father then.

"Jennifer."

"Mom." Jenny looked at her, a little lost, a little insecure. "This is Jethro, my er..." she looked helplessly to him. He shrugged. "Partner?" He offered. The term fit them in so many ways.

"My partner." She smiled gratefully.

"Anne Sanders" the older woman introduced herself before her eyes drifted to Manolo, her gaze hardening a little. "I didn't know you had a child Jennifer." she said coolly. "Heather's never mentioned anything."

"That's because he isn't my child. Manolo was abducted, his mother was blackmailed by his kidnappers. She hasn't been found yet. We" she gestured first to Jethro and herself, then to Manolo, "take care of him for the time being."

"Then it's a pleasure to meet him." Anne smiled till she saw her daughter's furrowed brows. "Would have been anyway" she added hurriedly, clearly trying to save the situation. "Come on in, Eric's in the living room."

She led her guests in a cozy and well-furnished room. Sanders stood in front of the fireplace, already having changed out of his uniform into civil clothes. "Jennifer." He greeted a bit tensely. "Special Agent Gibbs." How much she wished they stopped calling her Jennifer.

"Just Gibbs is fine." Sanders nodded and took Gibbs' hand. "Eric then. And who might that be?" He looked at the boy in his stepdaughter's arms. Jenny looked at him, caressing his cheek lightly. "Can you say hi to my mom and Eric please honey?" The little boy nodded and looked around shyly. He squirmed a little to indicate that Jenny should put him down on the ground but continued to hold on to her hand tightly. He looked up at her, then waved hesitantly to the other occupants of the room.

"Hello." His greeting was almost inaudible but he was rewarded by big smiles from all four adults.

* * *

The moment was interrupted by the ringing of the doorbell. Jenny took Manolo with her and her mother to welcome her sister, leaving the two men alone in the room, an eery silence hanging over them.

"How's the case going?" Sanders asked awkwardly. He didn't know what etiquette said about conversing with the boyfriend of your step-daughter who hadn't spoken to you in ages and whom he had met when he was interrogated by said boyfriend about the murder of three Marines.

"We have a few leads" Gibbs murmured non-committal. "You know a Matthew Doyle?"

The Army Colonel shook his head. "Should I?" He asked warily.

Gibbs observed his reaction precisely. His gut told him the other man wasn't lying, at least not now. "Former Marine. Morrison knew him." He said gruffly. Sanders listened carefully, intending to find out if he was questioned as a witness or suspect. "Obviously he's the big boss of the arms dealing business." Gibbs continued. "Kapmann and Morrison shadowed members of the cell, followed them around, tried to get a hold of Doyle. Do you know anything about that? Was it a part of their mission?"

Sanders shook his head again. "That's why they were killed?" Gibbs inclined his head in confirmation. "What are you doing now?"

"Finding Doyle." Sanders seemed to be satisfied with the answer. He folded his hands in his lap and stared silently at them for a few moments. "You know Jennifer and I have never had a good relationship. She blames her mom and me for her father's suicide." He remarked tensely, out of the blue.

"I know." Gibbs replied lowly, his only acknowledgement he'd even heard what Sanders had said.

"Sometimes I wonder if she will get over it. Her mother misses her, blames herself."

"Yeah, she will. Give her time." Gibbs replied confidently. He look him straight in the eye. "It wasn't easy on her. She felt rejected, then the most important person in her life committed suicide, indicating she wasn't reason enough for him to pull through. It's hard for her, grieving, understanding, but she will move on eventually." Sanders nodded and couldn't help but think Gibbs spoke from experience.

The awkward silence descended on them once again.

* * *

Jenny stood behind her mother as the older red-head opened the door for her sister.

Heather was pretty, maybe even beautiful. Her curly brown hair had blonde highlights, she had her mother's hazel eyes and was a few inches taller than Jenny. She was an engineer and worked for a local company where she developed all kinds of electronic devices.

"Jenny" she gave her older sister a brief hug and the red-head felt the tension easing away from her.

"Heather" Jenny greeted back warmly, a genuine smile on her face. "Long time no see, don't you think?"

"With your work schedule?" She asked back and smiled, a 1000 Watt smile that seemed to lit up the room. "That's your company you wanted me to meet?" She pointed at Manolo.

"Half of it." Jenny replied. She nodded at Heather giving her the sign to talk to the boy.

"Hi, I'm Heather, Jenny's little sister." She reached out to ruffle his hair.

Manolo turned to Jenny, looking for guidance. She got down on her knees, her eyes on the same high as his. She took his hand firmly in hers, giving it a light squeeze. _She was there._ "Go on, talk to her. She's nice." she murmured quietly.

"I'm Manolo." He said quickly before he turned to Jenny again.

"Well done." She praised, picked him up and followed her mother in the kitchen. Noticing the smile on her sister's face she smirked back over her shoulder, her hand protectively on Manolo's back.

* * *

They stayed there a few minutes catching up on what they had missed out on each other's lives before they went back to living room to Gibbs and Sanders. Ignoring the uncomfortable silence lingering in the room Heather hugged her father and then turned to Gibbs.

"So you are Leeerooy" she drawled and Jenny had a hard time not to flinch. Why again had she explained to her sister that _Jethro _hated being called _Leroy_?

"Go by Jethro though." He corrected gruffly.

"I see you two work fast." She remarked, inclining her head towards Manolo. This time Jenny did blush, her cheeks becoming almost as red as her hair. Embarrassed she turned to Jethro who, to her utter surprise, was grinning.

"Wish he was ours." he said seriously taking her dig in strike. She looked at him, surprise and confusion written all over her face. _Did he want kids? With her? Was he really serious or just joking around?_ She couldn't believe he was joking though. He took her in his arms, hugging her tightly for a moment, not caring what her family thought.

"You are special Jen" he whispered in her ear while he brushed a few strands of her hair out of her face. He rather felt than saw her smiling as she kissed the corner of his mouth.

* * *

Dinner carried on nicely after that and she had to admit she had missed the chatter and bantering that usually came with a family dinner night. Half way through the meal Manolo had decided he wanted to explore the house and after she had told him again that all of the present adults were a part of her family, he became more of his carefree, four-year-old self again he was when he was alone with her and Jethro.

Speaking of which, he had made friends with Heather, was even part taking in the conversation. He didn't say much and let the others dominate the conversation, but she appreciated the effort he made for her. He let his rest arm on the back of her chair as he played absentminded with a few loose strands of her hair. He and Manolo were making a habit out of this, but she couldn't find it in her to actually care, let alone be mad about it.

Later on she and Jethro shared a dessert and she was almost shocked with the amount of PDA they displayed. She leaned unconsciously into his touch as he caressed her cheek before he let his hand slide down her side to rest it on her hip. She was tired, she wanted to go home. Manolo was asleep on the couch next to the fireplace and as much as she had enjoyed dinner, her family, and herself, she had a job to do tomorrow morning and to get up at quarter to six in order to do so.

"You want to go?" Jethro asked quietly but obviously not quietly enough as her mother immediately offered them to crash in the spare room. "You don't have to drive home tonight. It isn't luxurious but it should be enough for one night, even if you are threesome."

"That's very kind mom, but I have an MTAC op to oversee first thing tomorrow morning and I'd rather have as little stress as possible."

The older red-head nodded in understanding. "I'll walk you out." Jenny smiled gratefully at her before she stand up to say her good-byes to Heather and Eric.

"I've really enjoyed dinner." She said sincerely, a genuine smile playing on her lips.

"Drop in when you are around." Eric said as he hugged her lightly. "I will." She promised before she turned to Heather to embrace her little sister.

"Give me a call some time." The brunette nodded as Jenny bent down to pick Manolo up. He waved sleepily at them as they followed her mother to the door.

"Thanks mom." She said quietly, letting her mother pull her into a hug.

"Anytime Jenny."

"I'll come by." The younger red-head promised, for once really intending on doing so.

"I appreciate it." came the sincere reply from her mother, leaving Jenny with the distinct feeling she meant much more than just her promising to drop in.

* * *

_I really hope you liked it and the characters weren't too OOC. Please leave a review._


	16. Mother, Mommy, Mama

A/N: So, I wasn't able to update as fast as I wanted to (I've spent the last few days in the Netherlands and haven't had a chance to post anything) but I've been busy writing so here is the new chapter. Hope you enjoy.

* * *

Chapter sixteen: Mother, Mommy, Mama

"I just can't believe it! You knew it all along, the whole time, all of you" her green eyes sparked "and neither one of you said a damn word to me!" The raven-haired woman accused them as she knocked back the sixth shot of the evening. Damn good thing for the three agents surrounding her that the had at least the good grace of looking sheepishly.

"Timmy" she whined "you was there when I asked him, why didn't you give me a hint?"

"Look Abby" he said, pleading her to understand, "I just assumed you knew. I mean who didn't? Even the LA Field Office knew. I spoke to Callan around noon and he'd already heard it!" McGee defended himself.

"You know what, maybe we should just stop discussing the subject. I've known Jenny for a long time and I know for sure she doesn't appreciate anybody gossiping about her private life."

"I'm sorry to disappoint you Zee, but she can hardly expect us to not gossip about it after her lead agent announced for the whole squad room to hear that they were having dinner with her parents tonight! That practically screams long term-relationship." Tony remarked as he indicated to the bartender to bring them another round of beer. "Almost all agents stationed at the Navy Yard and even some from Norfolk wanted to make abet on them after that, and they were willing to bet on nearly everything: date and place of a possible marriage; name, sex and date of birth of their first child, although some said they already have a child; since when they have been together, if they were romantically involved before she became director et cetera. You could buy a house and a car with the money staked on them."

"Don't let them hear that DiNozzo, or there won't be any money for you at all."

"What, you're afraid of them McGoo?"

"You'd better be Tony." Ziva advised. "I think neither Jenny nor Gibbs would take it kindly if they knew about your pools."

"Come on Zee-vah, don't be a party pooper! Don't you wanna place a bet on them? Or anyone else for that matter? Yeah Abby?"

"That's so cute. They are perfect for one another. I bet you $200 they are married before October." The Goth bounced happily as she handed the agent four bills. "How are my chances Tony?"

"Good as always for you Abbs" he said as he took her money and gave her his trademark lady-killer grin.

* * *

She sat up in her bed, startled, though she couldn't exactly pinpoint what had woken her up. Her mind was still numb, but she figured that wasn't unusual after almost three hours of mind-blowing sex with Jethro. It was a quarter to four in the morning so she had another two hours of sleep ahead of her before she had to get up.

She looked at Jethro who was still sleeping soundly so she concluded he hadn't woken her up. In this moment she heard a piercing scream coming from her spare bedroom down the hall - the spare bedroom where Manolo was. She grabbed her panties and slipped them on, together with Jethro's shirt. Suddenly her mind was blank but Manolo's scream, he had sounded so scared, frightened. Jenny bolted down the hall, standing in his bedroom in a matter of seconds. He sat on his bed, as far away from the door as possible, his face pressed against the wall. He had his knees drawn to his chest and his whole body trembled from the force of his approached him slowly, not knowing how frightened and disoriented he was.

"Manolo?" she asked as she extended an arm carefully to rub his back. "Manolo?" She whispered again. He turned his head to her, facing her, his eyes red from crying. She pulled him on her lap, hugging him to her, and rocked them back and forth soothingly.

"Mama?" he asked quietly, uncertainly and without even thinking about it she answered "I'm here honey, it's okay."

She waited until he had calmed down, but as she proceed to tuck him in again, he started to cry once more. "Don't leave." He begged, again and again, so she picked him up to take him with her to her bedroom. She met Jethro outside the spare room, he was leaning against the wall of her hallway.

"How long have you been standing here?" She asked, balancing Manolo's weight on her hip.

"Long enough." He replied, pressing a kiss to each's, hers and the boy's, temple. "Don't get too attached Jen" he said, but he didn't have to look at her to know she already was. Instead he put his hand on her lower back, supporting her as she carried the boy to their room. They settled back on the bed, Manolo sandwiched in-between them, his head on her chest, his hand on Jethro's torso. She snuggled up against the agent, her head resting on his shoulder as he embraced her and Manolo with his arms.

"Mama" the little boy yawned. "I'm tired."

"Go back to sleep honey" she murmured, pressing a loving kiss to the crown of his head.

* * *

He didn't like the feeling of being stared at. Scratch that, he _hated _the feeling of being stared at. He could almost relate to the suspects he was used to breaking with the silent treatment in interrogation. The director had a conference with a few senators later that day to which she was going to take Manolo with her, but right now she was in MTAC where the boy wasn't allowed in because of obvious reasons. To sum it up, he was stuck as babysitter.

"Eh boss?" The youngest member of his team began hesitantly.

"Today McGee." Gibbs bellowed impatiently.

"Okay, look we were wondering why Manolo called the director-"

"Then stop wondering McGee!"

When Jenny had told the little boy he would have to spend a little time with Gibbs while she would be overseeing an op in MTAC, he had been on the edge of crying. Uncertainty obvious in his eyes he had asked with a shaky voice "Are you coming back Mama?", and ever the red-head had taken him in her arms and replied without hesitation "Yeah sweetie, of course Mama's coming back" the three of them had been locked at funny.

He fixed his team with a good glare. "Going down to Abby's he growled, even grufflier than usual. He really couldn't bear their curious stares any longer.

"What about Mama?" Manolo wanted to know.

"She's coming to get you on time. Let's go now bud." Gibbs answered as he took his hand.

* * *

When they arrived at Abby's there wasn't any trace of the gothic lab rat, even her music was turned down.

"Abby?" Gibbs called. "Where are you?"

"Gibbs, Gibbs, Gibbs" the bubbly goth came out of her back office. "You brought Manolo too!" She shrieked as she enveloped them in a bone-chrushing hug.

"Are you alright Abbs? That stuff you claim is music is unusually low."

"Gibbs! That's the new album BrainMatter released just five days ago!" She exclaimed, her green eyes wide. "Timmy called, he told me you were coming that's why I turned it down so you couldn't sneak up on me. Abby spun around, ran to her mass spectrometre before she came back to them. Standing in front of Gibbs, she bounced on her feet, her pig tails flying around her head. "So what are you doing here?"

"We were bored out of our mind, right buddy?" Manolo nodded although it was clearly visible that he had no clue what they were talking about, he was way too much mesmerized by the equipment in Abby's lab. Last time he had been there he had been to scared to really pay attention to his surroundings. Behind them the _bing_ of the elevator announced the arrival of another person.

"Jethro? Manolo? Where are you?"

"In here Jen" Gibbs called back.

"Mama!" She had barely enough time to prepare herself for the force with which Manolo slammed into her, hugging her legs tightly. "You came back. Gibbs you were right." He shouted, overjoyed.

"Of course I came back." Jenny stated, scooping him up. Sometimes it scared her just how clingy he was and she wondered what had happened to him.

"Aww, that's so cute!" Abby squealed with delight. "He calls you Mama Director. That's like ... the most amazing thing ever! You are his mommy now but he remains his heritage by calling you Mama!"

Jenny looked at her for a few seconds, her expression blank but at the same time eerily dumbfounded. "I really haven't put too much thought in it yet Abby."

"That's okay Director, that's why I do it for you. This is a moment for the books!" Jenny just nodded, bot quite knowing what to say and turned to Jethro.

"I'm sorry to spoil your fun, but Manolo and I have to get going now."

"I'll walk you to your car." He said, kissing Abby's cheek before he went to the elevator with them, his hand supporting her lower back while Abby was already on the phone talking to his team about certain developments.

* * *

Gibbs sat at his desk being half way through his paperwork as his phone started to ring.

"Gibbs" he barked, no doubt scaring the hell out of the person on the other end on the line.

_"Special Agent Gibbs? This is Officer Railey, I'm with Metro PD. We have found a body at the bank of Potomac River. The victim matches the description of Márisa Sanchez."_

"We're on our way" he said, slamming the receiver down. "Gear up, Metro's found the body of Márisa Sanchez. McGee call Palmer and Ducky, DiNozzo, gas the truck!"

"On it Boss!" He heard behind him, already being on his way to the elevator.

Márisa Sanchez' body didn't look like it had been in the water for a long time. She looked peaceful, something Gibbs had learnt to appreciate after having worked on homicide cases for almost fifteen years.

"What have you got for me Duck?" He asked as he kneeled down next to the elderly ME. He looked around him, he had the distinct, uneasy feeling in his gut that somebody was observing his every movement.

"Estimated time of death was about twenty-four to thirty-six hours ago and I think the gunshot wound on her back" he turned the corpse carefully around "was most likely the cause of death. Although like always I cannot give you a precise answer before I have her on my table- Are you alright Jethro?"

"I think someone's observing us. Don't-" he grabbed Ducky's arm "-turn around. It'll look suspicious." The Scot nodded and got back to examining the body again.

"DiNozzo" Gibbs barked. "Come over here and take the camera with you!"

"What's up Boss?"

"Take photos of the spectators. Inconspicuous DiNozzo!"

"What for Boss?"

*whack*

"Ah, alright Boss, I get it. No reasons I need to know. Getting back to work now."

* * *

It was frustrating. Frustrating as hell. He knew who the murderer was, or at least he knew who had given the order to execute Márisa Sanchez and yet there he sat at his desk with no leads. They didn't have any damn idea where Doyle, or his dummies for that matter, was. He'd gone for coffee for often than he wanted to care for the last few hours so when he'd gone to buy his new "usual" once again, his team hadn't even looked up anymore. After having bought two cups of Jamaican blend and one of hot chocolate, he was now on his up to the director's office to tell a little boy his mother was dead.

He didn't know how they should break the news to Manolo; he figured his usual, slightly brutal, "band-aid-method" was out of question. Sure, he called Jenny "Mama" but Gibbs was sure that Manolo was, at least subconsciously, missing his real mother. He entered the corner office and found his red-head sitting on her couch reading case files while simultaneously drawing and talking with the boy in question next to her.

He closed the door softly, just watching them for a minute or two until Jenny felt his stare on her back. "Jethro? Are you alright?"

"Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Sure what's going on?" She asked standing up from the couch.

"Mama?" Manolo called, his eyes wide.

"Mama's just going over there to talk to Jethro. I'll be right back, okay honey?" She made sure to wait for the little boy to nod before she made her way over to her desk. "Jethro?"

"The body of Márisa Sanchez was found this morning. Gunshot wound to the back. Ducky says she didn't suffer."

She paled, just a little and gripped the edge of her desk with one hand, while the other flew to her mouth. "Oh my god. How do we tell Manolo?"

He shrugged, being none the wiser than she. "I honestly have no idea" he said lowly. "Maybe we should just break it to him, without any details of course."

Their eyes met before she turned around and looked at the little boy. He seemed to be so strong, happy; and yet a part of his world was about to be violently ripped away from him. He was just so small, so vulnerable and fragile. She took Jethro's hand, only for a second, to borrow a little of his strength, but then refused to let go again as she went back to Manolo.

"Mama, Mama, I made a picture for you!" Jenny looked at it, it was better than the picture of an average four-year-old. Or maybe she just thought it was. She tended to be in awe over everything he did nowadays.

"It's really good. It deserves a special place, don't you think? What about the spot behind my desk, right next to the window so everyone can see it?" The boy nodded, clearly pleased that she liked his picture so much that she was gonna pin it on the wall. "Do you want to help me?" He beamed so enthusiastically that she let him pin it on all by himself, with just a little help from Jethro. It was a bit askew but she couldn't help to admire his handiwork.

"Good job honey, I'm proud of you." She definitely was, she may not be able to pin point where it came from, that was just the way it was. Jenny gave him a peck on the forehead while she sat him down on her desk, then she took a seat on the chair in front of him. Jethro stood behind her, his hands on her shoulders.

"Manolo" she said, her voice serious. "We have to tell you something." She paused, brushed a few strands of hair out of his face. Jethro squeezed her shoulders briefly. She gave him a grateful smile. "Manolo sweetie, your mommy is in heaven now. She isn't going to come back."

He didn't say anything for a few seconds, instead he took a hold of her right hand and began to play with her fingers. "Are _you _coming home Mama?"

"Yeah, yeah of course. I was talking about you other Mama." He liked sad for a moment, the movements of his fingers stilling.

"I miss her." He looked down at her hand in his. "She wasn't there so much but I think I'm sad. But I have you now. You and Gibbs." He said, picking her hand up again.

"Manolo, it is very important that you understand what I'm going to tell you now, okay?" Jenny remained silent until he looked up at her. "You are allowed to miss you mother, don't ever think something else. Jethro and I, we will always be there for you, but I know how it is to lose a parent and I know how important it is to grieve. Come here." She took him in his arms and let him cry, for a mother he missed and she wasn't sure he'd ever had.

* * *

Leroy Jethro Gibbs was furious, angry at the bastard who was responsible for him having to tell a little boy that his mother was never coming home again. He stormed into the bull pen after he had been up in the director's office, his teeth clenched.

"What have you got?" He barked at his team as he came to an abrupt stop in front of his desk.

Stony silence.

"DiNozzo!"

"Er, so far nothing Boss. We've been trying to link Doyle to the murder of Márisa Sanchez but she wasn't shot with the same weapon as the other victims, so our murderer is probably one of his henchmen."

"Did you have a look at the crime scene photos of the spectators?"

"Not yet Boss, we are working on that."

"McGee!" Gibbs fixed the younger man with a good glare.

"Yes Boss?"

"Make your facial recognition thingy. I want to know if somebody we know was there."

"Well actually Boss it's a..."

"I don't care McGee." Gibbs said dangerously lowly. "Jen and I have just told a little boy that his mother is dead. Do you think I'm interested in what you have to do to find Doyle?"

"N-no Boss" McGee stuttered. "I'll start right away."

"_Jen and I _Boss?" Tony asked, grinning. "Is there anything we..."

"You wanna finish that sentence DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked menacingly.

"Er no Boss, I don't think so." He responded hastily.

*whack*

"That's exactly what I thought DiNozzo. I'm going for coffee. You three find me Doyle!"

"Oh my god, he's right! Tony, he's right!" McGee shouted as he jumped out of his chair. "Damn it DiNozzo, do you hear me? Call Gibbs!"

"Why the hell would I do that Probitinous?" Tony yelled back. "He's already pissed of so I certainly won't be the one to interrupt his coffee run."

"Why would you do that DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked from behind them, making Tony jump.

"Boss you were right" McGee repeated as he put a few pictures on the plasma screen in the middle of the bull pen. "There's Doyle. He's taking photos along with the other journalists that's why we didn't pay attention to him. I used CCTV of the area to follow his movements, I got an address!"

"Grab your gear. McGee, gas the truck; DiNozzo, David, I want Cassidy and Yates' teams as back-up, NOW!"

* * *

They had taken the back door in, like they had been told, and were now standing in the living room, searching the house for Doyle's back-up. Behind him were Cassidy and two of Yates' agents. He found himself grateful for Paula's presence although he'd prefer Ziva. Gibbs was talking to Doyle in the kitchen, in the room next to him he could hear McGee shouting _clear_.

Silence again.

Then in the kitchen the sound of a gun being fired leaving Tony DiNozzo paralyzed in the living room, fearing for his boss's life.

* * *

A/N: Maybe I should explain a few things.

Manolo does many things I did as a four-year-old (I think you see I was already crazy back then) as well as he sais things my mother told me I said. For example the Jenny-Manolo-Dialogue when she tells him his mother was dead is more or less the same I had with my mother when my great-grandmother died (I made sure that my grandmothers were still alive though).

I asked a Spanish friend of mine how she calls her mother and she said at least in Spain they use "Mama". She couldn't tell me anything about Latin America though. Beside that she told me I made a few mistakes concerning diacritical marks but I'm not sure if I should change that as I spelled Marisa _Márisa _and Sánchez _Sanchez _the whole time.


	17. The end

A/N: This is the end of my first story, the last chapter. I hope you'll enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Today it's been twenty-five years since the fall of the Berlin Wall. Amazing.

* * *

Chapter seventeen: The end

Leroy Jethro Gibbs was nervous. Or as nervous as a steely, tough, bad-ass Ex-Marine could possibly get. His gut was churning in the worst way, it was the same kind of foreboding he'd experienced as they'd worked the op in the Czech Republic as Jen had caught a round to the thigh. Either way, his rambling Senior Field Agent didn't help the matter at all.

He parked his car opposite to Doyle's house, scanning the area carefully. It was the typical white-picket-fence suburb he'd expected. The car Doyle had used to get away from the scene was parked in an almost mockingly obvious way in the front drive and the outline of his body was so clearly visible that even a miserable sniper could have made a deadly shot.

He divided the agents in three teams, each containing at least one member of the MCRT, and entered through the front door with his while the others looked for back-up. he shot a glance in the kitchen.

Doyle was leaning against the counter, a porcelain mug in his left hand, his gun loosely in his right. The smug and self-confident smirk on his face made Gibbs furious all the more. He drew his weapon, then he turned to the three agents behind him, indicating they should stay put while he went into the room.

"Special Agent Gibbs, pleasure to meet you." Doyle said as he place the mug on the counter, extending his hand for Gibbs to shake. Gibbs' blank expression gave nothing away of the fury he felt about this bastard knowing his name.

"I see you've done a little research then." He commented emotionless.

"You'd be impressed. I started observing you when you first got the case, you and your team. Gotta know who is the lead agent on my case, don't you think?" He grinned almost cheekily as Gibbs clenched his teeth. "And then I became aware of your pretty redheaded director-slash-girlfriend. Really hot, she's quite the locker, isn't she?" Gibbs knuckles turned white at the vice like grip he had on his SIG but he didn't take the bait. "And a keeper at that. Tell me Gibbs, how does it feel, pretending to have the perfect little family with her and 'your little one'? Do you think I could try too? She would give me a shot?"

Gibbs raised his gun, his finger was on the trigger before he really realized what Doyle had actually said. The only thing on his mind was Jenny, Jen and Manolo.

He aimed, pulled the trigger, but Doyle was faster.

* * *

The agents in the living room were shell shocked, their grips on their weapons slowly tightening. Then suddenly they jolted into motion, running to the kitchen as they heard a second shot. Tony slithered around the corner, coming to a sudden halt as he entered the kitchen. The glass of the window was shattered, a body laid on the floor, blood was pooling around him.

"Sick son of a bitch threatened Jenny and Manolo." Gibbs said through gritted teeth. "Tried to a bullet into my skull afterwards." He added almost nonchalantly. "DiNozzo call Ducky. I hope he won't mind, Jen mentioned he had tickets for the opera this evening."

Tony just nodded, he didn't really understood how Gibbs' mind worked in situation like this. He stepped out of the room, making his call as he saw, out of the corner of his eye, Gibbs coming towards him. The sleeve of his shirt was stained from the blood seeping through it. "Fuck Boss, what have you done?!"

"Cut me on the glass. Damn bastard thought he had to shoot the window." He growled, his annoyance obviously. Jenny would watch over him like hawk once she saw his injury, wanting to make sure he would really take his pain meds and follow Ducky's orders. "Ducky's coming?" He saw Tony nodding. "He can patch me up then."

* * *

They had to wait for the M.E.'s arrival for almost thirty minutes till they could finally hear Ducky scolding Palmer for having taken the wrong turn one too many times. "Honestly Mr. Palmer, what do they teach you young lads in college nowadays when you can't even drive us hear without spending almost fifteen minutes on a detour?"

"But Doctor Mallard, you had the map, you said..."

"Quit complaining Palmer!" Gibbs interrupted him rudely. "Could you take a look at my arm Duck? I'd like to get back to Jen and Manolo."

"Anxious Jethro?" The doctor gave him a knowing smirk. "Dear Jennifer is much more relaxed those days, don't you think? There's nothing a few nights of good sleep can't cure." He added suggestively.

"Duck" Gibbs growled impatiently, the warning in his voice clear to them both although Ducky dismissed it still smiling.

"Oh come on Jethro. A little honesty won't kill you. You tend to forget I was there the first time around."

"There isn't much to forget about that seeing that you walked in on us in the kitchen of Decker's safe house in Paris."

Ducky patted his arm and gave him another smirk. To say he wasn't shocked as he found them was the understatement of the century and although he had had his suspicions at that point of time, seeing them verified in form of his best friends doing the woman he thought of as a daughter on the kitchen table almost got him to faint.

"You're as good as new. Give Jennifer my regards. And if I were you Jethro, I would forgo a repeat performance as you have the little one in the house. We wouldn't want him to get the same kind of shock as I had now, would we?"

* * *

"Director? Special Agent Gibbs is back."

The voice of her ever loyal assistant came through her intercom. She signed the last file, then pressed the bottom to reply. "Thank you Cynthia. Would you mind keeping an eye on Manolo for a little while?" She asked as she stood up and covered his sleeping form on the couch with a blanket.

"Sure, I'd love to." Cynthia answered as she opened the door to the inner office. "Does he need anything when he wakes up?"

"Technically he should be fine, but just call me however, I will come and get him." She sent a last glance at the little boy on her couch and restrained the urge to kiss his forehead.

Jenny exited her office and made her way across the catwalk. Looking down she saw that his desk was unoccupied so she decided to pay Abby a visit where she would hopefully fund him. The doors of the elevator opened in front of Abby's lab as the man in question was just about to press the button for the elevator. She gasped, his appearance was messed up, his shirt blood stained. Her eyes focused on his arm where were cuts in his sleeve.

"Jethro?" She asked, almost hesitantly as if afraid to find out. "What happened?" She reached out carefully to touch his face.

"I'm good Jen, just a few cuts. Let's go up to your office." He said touching her hair softly as he entered the elevator. She turned around, about to kiss him, as suddenly-

"Stop!" She pushed him away.

"What?" He whined like a small child that didn't get his favourite toy.

"Leroy Jethro Gibbs, did you just whine?" Jenny laughed, amusement dancing in her eyes.

"No. So why can't we neither go to your office nor do I get to kiss you?"

"Oh, poor baby" Jenny cooed. "Complaining won't get you anywhere. Look at you. Your arm and shirt are bloody, your face looks like you hadn't washed it in ages, your..."

"Okay, okay, I got it Jen. So what do you suggest?" He asked a bit annoyed. Why was she always right?

"Take a shower, I'll get you a new set of clothes from your locker. Combination still the same?" She wanted to know, about to turn around and go to his locker as he grabbed her wrist.

"Sure thing. Fancy to join me when you come back?" He gave her a boyish grin.

"Jethro!" She exclaimed, but lowered her voice again immediately. "We can't have sex at NCIS!"

"Why not? Think about the thrill." He murmured into her hair as his hand sneaked under her blouse, cupping her bra-clad breast. "Jen?" He asked huskily, nipping on her earlobe.

"Mmmm" she moaned, "I'll think about it." His hand trailed lower, toying with the waistband of her panties.

"Jethro!" She scolded. "We're standing in the middle of the hallway!" His hand dipped into her panties.

"Hmm._ Fine._ Wait for me, I'll hurry up." He kissed her deeply, leaving her gasping for air as they broke apart. She turned around and he used the opportunity to admire her backside and, in a daring moment, swatted her ass lightly.

She shot him a nasty glare over her shoulder. "If I were you, I'd think about what I'd do. I'm not the one spotting a massive hard-one." She murmured huskily.

"Go!" He ordered. "I'm waiting!"

She laughed throatily. "I'll make the wait worth for you." She promised seductively.

* * *

_This part is M-rated. If you don't like it, just skip the next paragraph. You won't miss out on anything important._

"Jethro" She moaned as her head hit the wall of the shower cubicle.

"_God, Jethro!_" His mouth closed around her hardened nipple. He let his eyes wander across her flushed body, the little droplets of water, her hair framing her face, her fingers feverishly searching for something to hold on to. He moved down her body, over her navel, licking and biting along her hip bones, smelling her arousal.

"You are so wet Jen, _Jeez_, you are dripping." He mumbled as he caressed her clit lightly. He looked up at her face, her head resting against the wall, her eyes tightly shut, her mound a bit agape.

"Dont - stop" she managed in-between gasps. He licked slowly along her cunt while he parted her folds with his fingers. He darted his tongue in and out of her, increasing the speed of his thrusts continuously, building her orgasm slowly.

"Jethro, I'm coming..." He pulled out of her, leaving her wanton, panting with need and frustrated as hell.

"You bastard! Jethro!" Angry tears pooled in her forest green eyes. He wiped them away with his thumb, then he kissed her hungrily, nipping at her bottom lip lightly as he - "Jethro!" - thrust into her hard.

She was tight, warm, wet, and he knew he wouldn't last long. The heat in the pit of her stomach was increasing. His hand caressed her clit roughly and he felt her muscles clenching around him.

"Jethro!" She screamed, suddenly aware that was almost everything she had said for the last twenty minutes. She fell over the edge as he buried himself deep into her, his orgasm ripping through him. He stroked her hair lovingly and she smiled at him, the satisfaction of her afterglow surrounding her.

"Jethro! What did I tell you?"

"Ducky! What are you doing here?" Gibbs yelled, shielding Jenny's body with his own.

"I thought we agreed on you avoiding having sex in public places! Everybody walking along the hallway could have heard you!"

"And _I _thought we agreed on keeping our relationship a secret!" Jenny glared at the two men in front of her.

"Honestly Jen, I didn't tell him! He just found out!" Suddenly it hit him how absurd it was that he was having this particular conversation with his naked lover in NCIS' shower room in front of his best friend who had just walked in on the two of them having sex.

"He's right Jennifer." Ducky's voice ripped him out of his thoughts. "I became aware of the subtle change in you behavior and put two and two together. Ah, I should probably go." He said seeing the faint blush on Jenny's cheeks. "You should really consider listening to me" Ducky added over his shoulder as he exited the room.

Jenny buried her face in Jethro's neck. "No more sex at the Navy Yard. I feel like my father walked in on me having sex. The _second_ time!" She felt Jethro's chest vibrating with laughter.

"Don't laugh!" She grinned as she hit his chest. "That _was _embarrassing!"

* * *

They were on their way back to her office, standing patiently next to each other in the elevator as he reached out to hit the emergency switch, stopping the elevator mid-ride.

"Jen-"

"You better not want to have sex again Jethro, I'm still embarrassed." She said but grinned nevertheless.

"No. This is about Manolo Jen." He announced, brushing a few strands of hair out of her face. She stiffened. "What about him?"

"Social Services will want to take him away now that Doyle is dead and there is no threat against his life anymore." She looked at him, her eyes wide and a bit watery.

"Do you really think they would do that Jethro? He has nobody left in the world beside us. He calls me Mama for God's sake!" She shouted angrily as the tears began to flow. "Shh, Jen, it's okay." Gibbs suggested, taking her in his arms and hugging her to him. "Maybe you can see him again, you could visit him." He tried to console her but she broke away from him harshly.

"I don't want to visit him every now and then Jethro!" She cried huskily, almost choking on her tears. "I didn't even want to have kids my whole life long, hell I didn't want to have kids two weeks ago! And then we found Manolo and suddenly there's someone depending on me, someone I care for, someone I consider before I make my every move. I love this boy Jethro, I can't stand the thought of him being taken away from me."

He looked at her face, her sad green eyes, the smeared mascara. His mind was made up. "Come here Jen" he said, once again taking her into his arms. "We'll call Social Services, apply for guardianship." He said gruffly. He just couldn't stand her tears. "Maybe we can even adopt him."

"_We_?" She asked, looking up at him.

"You are stuck with me Jen."

"I think I can live with that." came her mumbled reply as her lips crushed down on hers.

* * *

She sat at her desk fidgeting with the papers lying all across it and occasionally smoothing out the imaginary wrinkles of her clothing. She looked over at Manolo who was blissfully unaware of everything that was going on around him as the nervousness she felt made her almost sick to the stomach. Anxiously tapping her pen on her desk she wondered for the hundredth time that day if they really would take him away from her. Her intercom buzzed.

"Madam Director?" She heard Cynthia's formal greeting, a sure sign that somebody was in the outer office. "Social Services are here."

"Send them in please. And Cynthia?"

"Yes Director?"

"Get a hold of Special Agent Gibbs."

* * *

"Good work Abby" Gibbs pressed a kiss to her cheek. "That bastard is going to rot in hell." Looking at the photo of Doyle's dead body distastefully.

"What about the other terrorists?" The goth wanted to know.

"Not our jurisdiction. The FBI will take over." He answered shrugging his shoulders.

"And you will just let them?" Abby asked incredulously. "You never just hand a case over!"

"Well, we really don't have jurisdiction on this one anymore, we found the murderer of the Marines, but I will probably put up a fight just to annoy the hell out of Fornell and our director." He remarked grinning cheekily.

"Oh, that's very mature." Abby laughed. "But it's more like you." She added bouncing up and down as Gibbs cellphone began to ring.

"I have to take that. Bye Abbs." Gibbs said kissing her cheek again.

"See you later Gibbs" she waved as he left her lab.

He looked at the caller ID on the display and took the call. "What does the director want now Cynthia?"

_"Social Services are here."_

* * *

Gibbs opened the door to her office softly, for once showing the good manners she knew he possessed but prefered not to show. Jenny and the blonde were sitting at the conference table while Manolo was happily coloring away at her desk.

"Ms Smith, you remember Special Agent Gibbs?" She asked politely.

"He's certainly not one to forget easily." She mumbled unaware of Jenny's nasty glare.

"How is it going Jen?" He asked as he took the seat next to her.

"We haven't really discussed anything yet." She murmured back.

"I take it the case is solved?" Elizabeth Smith asked to officially start the meeting. Gibbs nodded. "His mother died two days ago."

"So it's time to find a proper foster family for him then." She concluded.

"Ms Smith, I; we really care about Manolo" Jenny gestured to Gibbs and herself, "and we would like to apply for guardianship for him and later on adopt Manolo."

"Listen to me Director, I can understand that yu are attached to the boy, but he will be better off with one of our foster families. You can't provide a good care with your work hours" she eyes the red-head sceptically, "and on top of this-"

"Mama, Mama, I drew you a picture!" Manolo shouted running to her. She lifted him up on her lap and let him explain his drawing to her. "These are Abby and Ducky and Gibbs" he pointed at three figures in the picture, "and that's me and that's you." He continued pointing at the remaining two figures.

"Very good honey." Jenny praised as Manolo leaned back against her chest.

"I don't think it was a good idea to let the boy grow so attached to you." Smith said, pejoratively watching the scene in front of her. "You knew we had to take him away from you eventually."

"You cannot just take him away from us, you have to at least consider our application!" The red-head gave back angrily, her temper flaring.

"Watch it or I will take him with me immediately!" The blonde threatened.

"He calls me Mama, he views me as his mother, and you want to take him away from me! That can't mean nothing!" Jenny replied almost desperately.

"Ms Smith, listen to me." Gibbs spoke up. "Look at them. They have known each other for less than a week and yet there is such a strong bond between them. You destroy them both when you take Manolo away from her." The social worker sighed as Gibbs continued. "You don't have to let us adopt him right away, you can check up on him and us every day if you want, but don't tore them apart." He ended his small speech gruffly.

Smith sighed deeply. "I have to make a few calls." She said exiting the office. "I'll be back in about fifteen minutes."

The doors closed behind her.

Jenny hugged Manolo tightly to her, pressing soft kisses to his head.

"Call your team and Abby and Ducky Jethro. We need all the support we can get."

* * *

A little while later their surrogate family was gathered around Jenny and Manolo who was sitting on her lap as Smith entered the office again, her face blank.

"I talked to my superiors who obviously know you." She said, now with a disapproving look on her face. "I don't appreciate it when children are given to people just because they are friends with the people on top." Smith shot a nasty look at Jenny who bit her tongue to avoid making spiteful remark.

"Their only condition is that Manuel-" "Manolo" Jenny corrected automatically. "-Manolo agrees."

"So _Manolo_, do you want to live with Miss Shepard?" She asked bending down to his level.

The little boy took a few strands of her curly red hair in his hands, like he did so often. He touched her face softly.

"I want to live with Mama."

**-THE END-**

* * *

_Thank you so much for sticking with this story. I'm not sure if there will be an epilogue, but I am already working on my next story. Please leave a review!_


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